I just couldn't resist...

...one more picture! Taken with my new camera this is a preview of the current direction of the work for degree show

I'm really pleased :) 

The colours make me happy :) 

The textures sing and the forms speak :) 

It's all starting to come together - yay!

Not Long Now...

....it really isn't!? With Easter break only a week away, time is a ticking.... 

I'm excited about these next few months though, and feel very honoured to be working alongside such talented people. It has been so great watching the skill level shoot sky high in recent months and there is such a buzz of activity in the studio, it's great going in everyday :) In terms of my own work, I don't want to disclose too much on here before the finish now, as there is still a level of mystique required before seeing the end product(s)! There has been a lot of talk this week regards degree show set up and about how we might be wanting to display our work. Having the showcase just recently has been great for that, looking at how and what people have been putting on show. 

My work for the show was this: 

There was a breakage in the right hand vessel before putting it up, and in a way, I actually quite like it! Learning to embrace the 'happy accidents' is half the fun of the creative journey... 

On that topic, the work of late has taken a bit of a turn...frustrated by the nature of the objects becoming 'just vessels' (due to the nature of their slip-cast process), I cut the bases off and started re-addressing their purpose, or non-purpose as it were: 

Altering them in this way began offering up new opportunities:

and with the successes of some recent glaze testing:

and considerations over where the process stops and the product/object begins:

there has been plenty of scope for a range of new objects:

Thinking about it, I might just leave that one there - as a final image before the completed collection...! There's lots to be getting on with in the meantime; business cards and a website to design, the more finalized pieces of the collection to make, glazing to do, pictures to take (with my new DSLR - well I had to treat myself to something after 8000 words didn't I!?) more drawing to do, paperwork to get in order... etc etc etc etc etc etc....

Here's to the next few months - what will be going up in my space....?

Day Four: Malaga

Today we went Malaga. There were some great exhibitions on and it was a good day for photographs and drawing.

The Alcazabar was my favourite location of the day last time and it didn't disappoint on a second visit! It is a most beautiful place - I love all that moorish styling and with a new found mode of 'useful drawing' I had a great day!

Here are my 'surface patterns' from the day:

And a more painterly psychedelic study:

There was an exhibition by Subodh Gupta: The Imaginary Order of things at the Contemporary Art Gallery which was excellent. My favourite pieces from the show ticked the texture box that I have been collecting:

The window holes invited you into another world: 

There were other sculptures playing with mirrors/concealment:

The 'combine' sculptures were my most favourite:

Along with the simplistic vessel forms:

The composition

And the layering

I mean look at it - wow!

That's some more details to add to my list then...hanging, fixing, rope and thread

We discussed relief painting in ceramics during the tutorial and ideas behind installation. I think this is the area I want to explore with my work. Although I would like to try lots of other materials, I can save some of that for later. Having enjoyed working with ceramics over the past few years I would like to challenge my current uses of it and perhaps incorporate more drawing... a good day though, on lots of levels, it's off to the sugar factory tomorrow - yippee!

End of Year Assessment

What's that you say? Year Two finished....ALREADY?! 

That's right, it's assessment day and I can't believe again how quick this has come round again! What an amazing year though. I feel so excited and happy that I am doing all this right now :)

Having finally got round to achieving some finished objects and items for assessment (yay!) here is my space, and I am very proud of it:

latex, surface and glaze samples boards

additional samples and plaster moulds

And here are some of my chosen few, this is what's exciting me for the journey ahead:

another lovely bubbling

a bisque fired finish which has challenged my notion of 'what is finish on a non-functional object'

and my favourite Latex and Ceramic combinations....

..that show the direction of where I'd like to be heading next year

Really excited for where this all might lead and looking forward to the long summer. I'm off on a drawing trip to Gdansk in a few weeks so will be up with drawings from that soon! Happy holidays, and hopefully some sunshine (?!), 

lots of love, 

Decorative Arts, BA (Hons), Year Two  x

Stiching with nails and the results of a High Firing

So, you remember that nice piece of porcelain with the nails?

Well after its bisque fire it went back in the kiln for a high fire (1260'c)

and looooooook! 

that is some nice bubbling!

I'm experimenting with some more.....

check back for results next week!

Lovely Lustre (2012)

It's that time of year again, the annual Lustre event at Lakeside. I went with a keener and more inquisitive eye this year, looking at the display and quality of finish to the products on show. I was quite taken by the affordability of the wares and made a few purchases too!

I enjoyed talking with Christine Gray about her process of making these beautiful porcelain bowls:

The cast glass sculptures of Louisa Finch:

More glass sculptures by Samantha Donaldson:

Katie Gilliland's taxidermy inspired jewellery:

The attention to detail in Malin Winberg's work:

The simple yet effective designs of Jane Blease:

The technicalities and consideration applied to the work of Anna Wales:

The scaffold inspired brilliance in the jewellery of Helen Sutherland:

The illustrative delights in the textiles of Teresa Cole:

And the exciting ceramic drawings-cum-sculptures of Nicola Laidstone!

Nicola has an open studio event at the Shed 2 studios on 30th November -
I'm definitley going along to have a peek!

My purchases of the day were: 

these three bear embroideries by Natalia Kukiel...I wonder where they will go?

and a mug by Carly Dodsley - which I'm enjoying as I blog!

So all in all, it was another lovely Lustre and a pleasant addition to the work that I saw there last year. I'm keen to make it a annual visit and continue to support the new, local and inspiring makers that it attracts. Maybe I will be there one day? who knows....

Developing in Wire and 3D Drawing

Whilst working through my last project I have become enveloped by the notion of conceptual drawing. This is something I want to push over the coming year and am excited for where it might lead. I was pointed in the direction of Fritz Panzer the other day, he creates HUGE spatial works that have real energy to them - I love it!

Anthony Gormley can be found in this bracket too - just look at those manic swirls!

My own drawings and creations are starting to take some kind of form. I'm struggling for what they 'are' or 'where they belong' but all will become clear in time I am sure/at least hope! 

drawings becoming forms...becoming drawings? again?

drawing from the page...

and literally jumping out of it! 

Resulting in a funny set of characters! But which performance are they acting out?

Addressing tension and the sense of space, pull, motion, stillness....

but where will it all lead next?

I found my tutorial today quite helpful, with suggestions of playground structures and how they react to the space. 

my chosen location: the old rum distillery in Spain

So I am going to continue playing with wire and bring to that some ceramic forms too. We'll see how they interact with one another and from that create the stage for the end product, or idea, or pieces or whatever it's going to turn out to be!