This week:
- I collected my fired and glazed ceramics – thoughts and reflections below
- Izzy and I went to look at our shared exhibition space and started the hunt for cabinets. The library said we can come and use the cabinets in the library to test out a cabinet display (this will be next week on the 31st) and we’ve had a couple of maybes from Andy Harbert/Graphic Design but we’re yet to find a definite. We might try posting on various social medias next.
- Gathered some more items from various beach walks
- third session of Tate Emerging Artist Platform
- Nina’s workshops on different modes of hanging for our degree show
- Had a good chat with Martha Dommett about the overlaps in our practice and shared interests
- CAST Saturday Club
- Visited the Quarry House Collective open studios – they offered me a space in their studio from June !!!
- Worked Super Sunday at Tate St Ives
- Watched River by Robert Macfarlane
- Soaked a load of paper drawings: 1x backwards writing A3, 1x coloured A3, 1x double sided coloured A4, 1x coloured A3 with paper lattice and one plain sheet of A3
- Started a 1mx1m drawing to be soaked
- applied for the Drawn to Wildlife exhibition
- I have started gathering quotes for a collaborative book Izzy and I intend to make (current working theme/title of ‘entanglement(s)’)
- The Tour de Moon publication I contributed to came out
Although I got a fair amount done last week, it did feel like I was a little pushed for time with a lot of time taken up with being at the Tate and CAST etc. I’m hoping therefore this week a little more time will open up to do some of the things I didn’t quite get round to doing last week, which seemed mostly to be the more writing/reading side of things.
In terms of the work I did this week, the following notes in my paper journal include my reflections on the ceramic pieces I picked up:
Having asked Karl a couple of follow up questions, he says the terracotta/earthenware likely melted as it was fired at stoneware temperatures – far above the realm of earthenware temperatures. He says that as long as I’m careful with putting something underneath it then I am ok to try and do this again. I may need to go to the beach to gather more brick to do so, but this is definitely an aim for this week – to make some more ceramics so they can dry and be fired in time for next week. Unfortunately I discovered that at glazing temperatures the glass melts and disappears completely, rather than the nice ooze it does at bisque-ing temperatures. It does, however, leave an imprint of where it once was so I’m considering whether I could use this in some way to explore the idea of ‘trace fossils’ that I have been reading about this week.
It is also worth reflecting on the other side of my practice – the paper sculptures/drawings. The experiments I tried this week were as a result of feedback I had in my last tutorial questioning whether with the drawing and paper soaking there was a little too much going on in the pieces – too many layers of agency to try and unpack. As a result I tried flattening/unifying the marks on the paper – one I coloured in one side, and one both sides to see if this made a difference. I also left a sheet entirely blank. I don’t think colouring in both sides made a particularly marked difference as compared to both sides, unless of course I wanted to show it in such a way as to show both sides of the paper. This is definitely something I need to decide on; do I want to show work on the window, or just in front of the window? Perhaps I could do a bit of both? I suppose essentially it comes down to what there is to gain from the work being on the window vs slightly away from it? Being on the window more intentionally draws attention to the pane of the window glass (esp. in relation to the quote), as well as more intentionally allowing outside elements to author the work. However, I’m not sure if in some ways it also flattens the work? When they’re allowing to hang in space they can be viewed from all sides, viewed as more sculptural pieces than flat window pieces. I think perhaps one small double-sided work on the window (soaked or unsoaked?), with other hanging works in the space, may work well?
In terms of colouring in the sheets, as opposed to drawing on them or leaving them blank, I feel this worked better in highlighting/emphasising the ripples of the paper once water was added; it brings out, rather than fights against, the sculptural qualities of the paper. The lattice does this too, but I’m unsure whether this verges on too literal or superfluous? It does echo a feature of Rosanna Martin’s work, which is also echoed in one of the ceramic pieces, wherein she creates regular structures (lattices or hexagonal tessellated patterns) which I feel echo microscopic structural properties of the minerals etc she is responding too. I like how these patterns emphasise the slipping and moving of the elements, adding a bit of structure for the movement to kick against. However, I’m unsure whether it works as effectively in a paper drawing.
As a result of these experiments, I am now in the process of creating a much bigger 1metre x 1metre drawing, again of purely mark-making. I had intended to it to simply be one-sided, however reflecting above on the possibility of displaying it in space, I am now wondering whether double sided might be best. Potentially I could hang this piece near the window, so it still has light on it, and echoes the size and shape of the window, but not actually block all the light.
The final paper experiment I did I feel was the most conceptually successful. I took the quote from Thing Theory about the window, and wrote it backwards on a sheet of paper. It could then be read through the paper, which works really nicely with the contents of the quote itself, talking about how we always look through objects rather than at them. I also like how the writing, when read from the side it was written on, is reduced purely to indecipherable shapes and lines, thereby also doing what the quote encourages: not reading through things to pre-conceived meanings, but being blocked and forced to look at the very thingness of the thing being looked at. As such, I feel this is a piece I would definitely like to be hung in the final show, it’s just a case of making a more finalised version. I feel the writing may need to be a little darker than the one I have already done, and perhaps a little better distributed across the page (although this isn’t an overly important detail). The only real decision I need to make is whether or not to soak this paper. Soaking doesn’t necessarily tie in quite as directly and, if nothing else, may obscure the writing a little, which does need to be readable. I just am unsure how having one un-soaked piece of paper in a space where everything else has been soaked would read. Maybe there’s a middle ground wherein I could lightly soak it?!
So, going forwards to next week, my to-do list is looking as follows:
- glaze ceramics and take them to be fired
- make another batch of ceramics with earthenware included, as well as potentially preparing trace fossils of glass (may need to gather more earthenware for this?)
- continue with large 1m x 1m drawing (this could take a while)
- make another quote piece
- (think about what the smaller window drawing might be)
- (paper sculptures?)
- post on social media etc about cabinets
- start collaborative book with Izzy
- start thinking about writing to go alongside work – gathering quotes etc
- still need to look at taxonomy and potentially another text on thingness?
- (look into paper clay)
Anna Harris 