In response to the current divide over changes in the city, through regeneration program. I have collected many opinions towards these changes some positive, negative and unsure. Some being that heritage is being lost to newer projects. Truly i’m going to have to do further research but I do believe in working from a feeling or responding to a place. I have made many baby heads , I currently have found links in the making of the heads using moulds and the manufacturing processes that can be found in making ceramic ware. The moulds themselves are often plaster. The repetitions of baby heads resonates thoughts on Wedgwood Muesum and it’s factory. A Museum a place where the art can be seen not through just the elitist eye, a supposed place where art can be appreciated by the thousands/ millions over the years. Because the art that’s shown is priceless? supposedly. Wedgwood asks for a £7.50 entry fee, before your allowed access through the doors. The Art shown is magnificently rich, colours, textures and designs couldn’t be faulted. Original Wedgwood was made from the clay of the land, what you find now is a factory using clay from Dorset. A small pottery business now owned by Fishars a Finland company who sells pottery to the public at £50.00 a cup. I can only imagine homes parading these commodities through glass cabinets, purely on the stamp underneath the cup. The gift of such finery during hard times as The Depression has been wilted down to a commodity that sales depend on the name. Like a tombstone to a grave. When I walk through the ‘Wasteland’ I don’t see ruins I see another type of Wedgwood, a ruin waiting. I look at the repetition of baby heads made of different types of plaster from the finer type to the cheaper sold plaster and I see the same faces just with more cracks. Wedgwood’s gift was it’s orginality now it’s gift has been auctioned off for £7.50, including an insight into the factory £10.00 of which a small percentage feeds into a crying city.
