Where do you stand in relation to your practice; are you a modernist or a postmodernist? This is a question that I have been taking on board as part of the theoretical side of my course. I’m postmodern in the sense that I feel postmodernism has broken down a lot of boundaries that have only in recent history existed between craft and fine art and in relation to the materials that artists use. It’s encouraged us to examine meta-narratives such as the art historical canon and to think about who is speaking and what their agenda.
I feel that there is a lot of opportunity for artists for whom ceramics forms an important part of their practice to write about their practice. There is a general lack of good critical writing within the field, obviously this has improved a lot within recent years. Artists like Clare Twomey and Edmund De Wall write very well about ceramics practice. Indeed, this has been very beneficial to their careers because they have been able to apeak about their work with a great deal of authority because of their engagement with the written word. Many ceramicists seem to think that they don’t need to write about their practice, that it speaks for itself. However these are the very people who then complain about a lack of critical writing in the subject or feel marginalised because their views aren’t represented.
