A Quintessence of Dust

I spent a back-breaking day making test tiles in porcelain, earthenware and paperclay – then using different decorative tools and techniques on them.

I have used the capillary method of applying slip and glaze to my maps and wold bowls and particularly enjoy the element of chance that comes with this finish – very often finer and more intricate than I could achieve by brush.

I was fascinated by the mashima method of applying slip over deep texture then taking off surface with metal kidney to produce patterning with great strength and visual impact.

I combined the new decorative ideas with my work on slumped pots in porcelain but found the qualities of this clay are not easily compatible with these ways of working. It’s much harder to join seams firmly, especially when putting those seams under extra pressure through slumping and compression. My mentor, Jill Ford suggested the gapping would help in defining this work as ” not for use” ie art pottery. Having just been to annual COCA lecture and heard Takeshi Yosuda speak I’m now in agreement with him that all pots have use and function, but not all are tableware.
The degree of clay drying for manipulation into these free forms is different to the leather hard state needed for mashima and getting a working balance between the 2 needs may be impossible for me to achieve what I want to make in porcelain. I think it’s probably a great clay for throwing where all it’s qualities of delicacy and translucency can be worked with but it’s too slippery a beast for my current practise. I’ve learnt a lot through this process and am a much more focussed and methodical potter than I was at the outset. I also have a better understanding of the interaction between elements needed to produce what I’m aiming for. But I still love what can happen when working with clay and chemicals and fire that is beyond my control and can result in marvellous gifts.

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Alchemists worked in teams which were usually one woman and one man: sister/brother, daughter/father, wife/husband because they believed both anima and animus had to be drawn on in the creative process. I am sure there were transgressive teams that were same gender, or groups or solo pioneers but as alchemy was such a secretive science and magic there is not much evidence of this.
I am drawn to alchemy as a ceramicist as it explores the magic of early understanding of our material universe, the roots of chemistry which contain transformation from one substance to another, the application of the elements in controlled conditions – fire, water, air and earth – to create something new from these basic stuffs.
It is magic, It is chemistry. It requires a willingness to engage with both.

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As an art potter I respond to ideas about the world and my environment, the qualities of the materials, the tactility and plastic nature of clay, the joys of decoration and glazing, the accidents, mistakes and mysteries that happen when you commit work to the kiln.Some might call this a “feminine” approach to making – instinctual, emotional, exploratory.
So my work to date has been allowed to flourish without too much application of the discipline of the scientific processes. But this scientific rigour is what I need to learn be able to direct my work now – so I have more choices and more control over what I produce, and this is the basis of the work with my mentor during this process of professional development. I am learning how to control the clay to make a well-made pot and it’s a challenge but one I’m enjoying.

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Straight lines, well made edges and joins, clean cuts and precise decoration. Is this accessing and using a “male” aspect of creativity?
As an artist I find it easier to be in the right side of the brain for my work and find the left brain stuff more of a challenge. But this is because I have been through a gender segregated education system that wouldn’t allow girls to do woodwork or technical drawing.I had no teaching of practical skills within my family; I taught myself to wire plugs, change light bulbs, paint and decorate and put up shelves from the age of 10 because someone had to do it.
This process of working with another potter on making, decorating, glazing and firing is going to fill that gap for me and give me a sense of entitlement to that knowledge and those skills.
I do believe we need both – the instinct and the control, the gut response and the ability to refine in order to effectively express our creativity.
I don’t believe these are “naturally gendered” qualities. We all have them, we can all use them. We just have been supported and encouraged to develop one set at the expense of the other.
Of course I am writing this as a child of the 1960s and hope this isn’t so rigidly divided now,but we seem to be going backward in this respect in advertising, the media, gendered toys and career paths.

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So now the emergence of the baggy pot which allows the clay to follow it’s natural inclinations and create its own baggy bottom with gravity, but where I have great attention to detail of texture, decoration and glazing is drawing on the best of both worlds.

Before my first session with mentor, Jill Ford, I had an artist’s day out to Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery where the have a national collection of ceramics and British studio pottery in particular. My work to date has been more about the textures and decoration but I became excited by form and volume that day.
I wanted to recreate forms with internal space and weight that are muscular and visceral.I’m not working toward a particular show or exhibition at the moment so have had some time to explore this idea in clay and what has emerged is the baggy pot. I texture wet clay, form and seal the pot shape then allow it to sink down into it’s base – gravity does most of the work.

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The joy of discovering the movement of the clay when not trying to control it and mould it into a pre-conceived shape is lovely. I find myself loving the rips and tears that appear when wet, textured clay, form and gravity interact to make these shapes that mimic internal body structures. It’s no coincidence that I have several conditions going on that make me very aware of the jumble of my innards. I am externalising something about my inner bodily processes but also discovering new things about my medium about following it’s natural qualities. This very different to the work I will be doing with Jill which is much more technical and controlled – but can still apply those skills of glazing and firing to my pots however baggy they get.

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Before my first session with mentor, Jill Ford, I had an artist’s day out to Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery where the have a national collection of ceramics and British studio pottery in particular. My work to date has been more about the textures and decoration but I became excited by form and volume that day.
I wanted to recreate forms with internal space and weight that are muscular and visceral.I’m not working toward a particular show or exhibition at the moment so have had some time to explore this idea in clay and what has emerged is the baggy pot. I texture wet clay, form and seal the pot shape then allow it to sink down into it’s base – gravity does most of the work.