I have been doing some volunteering at the British Ceramics Biennial, which has not only given me the opportunity to meet a bunch of great people and contemplate the outstanding array of works on show .. it has also given me the chance to have a good look at the Spode Factory, which houses the exhibition. There are lots of remains, from when the factory was operational, still in place and I have come across some intriguing ceramic objects … that perhaps I can take into further work.
Whilst on a shift by the back entrance I came across a bizarre pile of gravel by my feet. Gravel was already on my brain after working on my piece for the AirSpace studio members’ Assemblage exhibition. So I was giving this heap quite a bit of my attention. I suddenly realised that it was awfully regular looking and had a strange blue tinge. Picking up a handful, I realised it was a heap of discarded ceramic pieces. All the same shape (triangular prisms) and two tones, grey and blue. I find this strikingly fitting with my previous thoughts on gravel as a mass of neglected stones. Similarly in this instance ceramic works that are usually regarded as precious, decorative and fragile had found an unusual home beneath my feet. They were happily being completely ignored until their manmade regularity became apparent. This seems like the reverse concept of my gravel pins – concealing as opposed to revealing. I have gotten an urge since being in the city to start playing/making/working with ceramics, despite my negligible skill. I feel that the idea of ceramic gravel may be a healthy starting point for my upcoming making….
I also came across this lump of dried out clay – somebody’s working remains. It is an intriguing object; to me it resembles both a comb and a block out of which somebody was cutting tagliatelle like strips. I wonder what it was used for? And what it could become.
