straddling ceramics and sculpture, i.e. using the techniques used in ceramics to make sculpture
exploring Fragility:
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| Before firing, with the end of the top coil still intact
Working with very fragile spherical forms, which will - and do - incur some damage during the making and firing, to reflect my inquiry into the subject of the fragility of life. The plan at the moment is to make a large number of these of various sizes, to form an installation ultimately. Each sphere represents a life and is made up of one continuous coil (usually in ceramics the coils in hand-built forms are cut to size and the individual coils are then superimposed, forming a stack rather than a spiral). The coil spirals in repetitive circles/cycles - expansion and contraction - reflecting the cycle of life; and the breakages reflecting the fragility of life.
I really enjoy the meditative nature of this work and am beginning to perceive this as a key element in what I do.
I joined a ceramics studio for a few months this spring/summer (hence in the previous post, the images from the Ceramics Department at the V&A, which I visited on several occasions during that time) to explore the techniques used by ceramicists - and indulge my love of clay - with a view to use these in my sculpture work.
Very early on I began to want to leave the making process visible, not smoothing the coils out but showing how the object is made.
1) Seeking to create movement in what is inherently a settled/quiet form, and playing with dark and light - this white clay creates beautiful shadows:
 
2) Exploring movement through texture:
3) Exploring the larger scale:
1, 2, and 3: using fine, smooth white clay, and remaining in my usual style, more appropriate to the brick clay I had been using in my work previously.
Gradually I began to sense that this smooth, soft, tender white clay asked for a greater delicacy, which gave rise to the fragile spheres. The Fragility of Life theme emerged as I was working on the first of my 'fragility spheres'.
I also explored the possibility of using wax for the fragile spheres;
still playing with dark and light, although here it's the blue of the wax that varies in tone
gravity playing its part - like with all of us (I've toyed with the idea of exposing such wax spheres to strong sunrays, moving the sphere around to assist the shaping as the wax softens and sags)
taking delight in the behaviour and nature of the wax
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Other ceramic experiments, which I might explore further:
Working with the behaviour of the clay; letting the material and the process speak and play a vital role in the final outcome. Working with gravity, time, and the ambient atmosphere, and also, critically, chance. Cutting the edges in such a way as to accentuate the curve to a maximum and so create movement - these are flat slabs/sheets of clay of even thickness, which is characteristic of ceramics. If cut with flat edges, i.e. fully perpendicular to the main plane, they are inherently still, without movement, even when cut in dynamic shapes and/or folded; movement, sculpturally, is usually mainly created by varying thickness/volume.
I have also been experimenting with plaster, exploring its behaviour. Further explanation and illustrations in a subsequent post.
