The second sawdust firing was better…the mixture of sawdust and wood shavings meant there was more air and the addition of some wax meant it fired up well. There was a lot of flame and then smoke. 24 hours later the kiln was cold and it was possible to remove the contents.
Returning to my scale plan for the micro exhibition that is my final show I am now considering about how to display the vessels. The space will probably be smaller than anticipated but necessary for circulation and has the consequence that there will be no room for the cylinders. They will need now to feature in the field photos in the sand dunes of North Devon. The constant shifting of plan within an overall context is to be expected.
Work on the text panel is progressing..and, after tussling for several days to find a suitable name for the show’s sponsor…the words came…
The Balinger Freight Corporation – logistics protection.
Following a colleague’s link I have been looking at the work of Singaporean multidisciplinary artist Zhao Renhui who had an exhibition in London last year A Bird in the Hand. Thinking about my entry for 9 March and the ‘conceit’ it was interesting to read: ‘Against the very real environmental drama unfolding across the globe, …Renhui Zhao invites viewers to step in the Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ), a multilayered conceit…Zhao creates elaborate scenarios or alternate realities to interrogate questions of art and artifice, credence and fantasy, and the borders of reality’. www.criticalzoologists.org/abirdinthehand
Slowly continuing on several fronts. The light box construction is finished and is now ready to paint. I’m pleased that this particular aspect has been dealt with as I know there is loads to do that cannot be done at this stage. (eg the photos) This week I started work on the information panel ‘writing the object’. This is proving to be more difficult than expected. Do I write it with some grain of scientific truth about it or go completely into the realms of fantasy? Plus there’s been a steep learning curve with InDesign. But research is turning up some amazing sounding phrases…mixed manifest capabilities/ robust sensor suites/ land based autonomous logistics/node of ultimate synthesis!
Preparation for the sawdust firing of the vessels is ongoing, I have now collected/ sawdust/kindling/wood shavings/ masking tape/ copper wire/clay for masks/materials for marking the surface…and which wax paste is best for polishing? Estimated firing date Tuesday 20 March…hope it doesn’t rain/hope it works/ hope it looks amazing.
Looking back on the initial blog entry I’m now wondering whether The Museum of Space Exploration is just a mere ‘conceit’. Definitions include:/ a fanciful thought or idea/an extravagant fanciful and elaborate construction or/ the result of intellectual activity. Seesaw the other way and it is ‘writing the object’.
Yet where has this conceit led me…away from being stuck with the idea of subverting Michael Craig-Martin’s glass of water by turning it over (no oak tree either) to a future archaeological display that includes vessels, some of which are turned upside down!
I have now thrown, turned and burnished 30 and am waiting until they are all fired for the first time before firing them in a sawdust kiln. I have since learnt that they will be fragile and some may break in the process but I can use these in the photography expedition. A selection of those that remain will be displayed on an open plinth so that people can touch them although perhaps they won’t.
“The vessel inhabits rich liminal territory of uncertainty and abstraction” (ref New Approaches to Ceramics P12). Yes please!
Sand blasting a couple of cylinders has produced a different finish – one that is neither glazed nor unglazed, perhaps a good surface for a linoprint?
I took part in a 29 Feb book art project this week by sending a photo of my location (out of a window or a door) together with what I was doing at 12 noon on that day. In the ceramic studio.
Why did I pick such a non date for this artefact exhibition…of course! As MOSE was opened in 3000 as a Millennium Project the yearis now 3800 and to celebrate its 800th anniversary MOSE is presenting some of the very first artefacts discovering in the golden age of robotic exploration.
In real time I have discovered that curry powder has the power to stop concrete setting so useful to have with you to deter concrete boots. After 4 days the latest mix is like fudge, powdery.
One thing I noticed when taking photos of the cubes on a light box was how effective the under glow was to their display. And this has resulted in me thinking more critically about the:
THE SHOW as PERFORMANCE.
And how critical the display of the cubes is to their obtaining ‘objecthood’ within the MOSE exhibition. A light box is required.
The criticality of the display element of the show cannot be overlooked as, like theatre, ‘a suspension of disbelief’, will be required. Otherwise what are these ‘things’ but a scattering of concrete cubes with some images on them. And how the display element takes up thought, effort and logistics when there’s so much else to be doing. (Such as planning the glazes and mark making on the ceramics).
Our show is being held at UWE and we have now all been allotted qpprox 3m of wall space each. Mine is an L shape.
This week I made out a timetable as critical path towards the show. It concentrates the mind but also means pinch points can be highlighted. Work is ongoing on four elements…
– an A1 information panel about MOSE and the finding of the artefacts – including field work photography in N Devon. The cylinders will be used here. (please don’t rain during the planned visit).
– the cubes – 40-50
– the ceramics – 30 allowing for mishaps in firing – perhaps 10?
– the prints – x2 carborundum etchings.
