One aspect of Grizedale Arts that I found totally inspiring, was the collection of chairs, tables, bowls, cutlery (almost anything functional), ranging from many different art and design periods. The collection of these objects, immerses you into a kind of living / useable gallery – in which you can’t help but notice and appreciate design. Aside from this, is Adam Sutherland’s incredible knowledge of this collection – with each cabinet, knife and fork set, etc, hold it’s own unique story. Adam described the collection, not merely as a set of functional objects used for daily living, but as one which intentionally acts as a gateway into the wider concepts and ethos of the organisation. A collection and an ethos around art being central to civic provisions.
On returning from Grizedale, I found myself frequently studying the plates, bowls and jugs in the Welsh Ceramics gallery at the National Museum Cardiff. This wasn’t a gallery of the museum which I had given much thought to, previously, but after Grizedale I felt drawn to it in a way I hadn’t before.
During the Unit residency, I spent time chatting with Anthony Shapland about the visit, and the time I was subsequently spending at the museum. He said he had seen a new sense of direction in my research. Objects.
I thought a lot about function when in the Welsh Ceramics gallery. A plate as part of a dinner service held it’s primary function as a usable object for eating from. But what concepts was it trying to engage me in? What was it’s surface design saying to me? Could the surface of an object, hold its own function, separate to the primary function in which the object was made?
