Last week, while lying on the settee with a bad dose of the lurgy, I flicked through an old sketchbook, trying to kick start my brain into thinking again. There were several ideas that I’d had, but had abandoned either […]
The fourth British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent comes as the industry in the city is enjoying a modest upturn. Reporting from the city, Bob Dickinson finds plenty of evidence of ceramic creativity alongside well-founded concerns over the loss of traditional industrial skills.
(Joseph) My memento mori for the trip – recorded out of the window late last night at high tide. I’ve applied a lo-cut filter to minimise the sound of the nearby harbour boats and the constant generator hum that comes from them. Goodbye Shetland […]
(Joseph) Almost done and definitely half a mind (most of the time) on going home now… It felt like the Open Studio was the last proper day of the residency. Today was taken up with admin at the booth, followed […]
(Joseph) A day off… A chance to explore and be tourists for a day – with the mics ever present, recording as we go… First stop, the Horse Fair at Cunningsburgh, on the same site as the recent agricultural fair. […]
(Joseph) Only 3 more days to go until we leave the Shetland Isles for now and time has literally flown… We spent the morning clearing out the downstairs painting studio (which we have never used) in preparation for our Open […]
After an uneventful day working away in the booth whilst the rain continued to pour down outside, the skies finally cleared for a while and we headed outside. I didn’t have a particular plan in mind, but I thought it […]
(post by Joseph) It was a bright day and we took ourselves to the Sheep Dog Trials at Skeld. Our friend Rob from Yell who entering his dog, had given us directions, “drive to Skeld and look for a bunch […]
(post by Joseph) Today was the day of FOG… It was also a day of very productive meetings with various potential partners and local arts professionals, to try and construct a viable project that can attract public funding. We know that […]
(post by Joseph) Well, it’s Day 19 (gadzooks!) and we’ve come to Mareel in Lerwick to use the internet and to get out of the Booth for a few hours. Today has been a day for arranging meetings – setting […]
(post by Joseph) Took advantage of the spectacular weather today (after an extraordinary fog-filled early morning) to start filming a promo film. We’re thinking of starting a crowd-funding campaign to raise money (it seems like a suitable fit) and so […]
(Joseph) Well, the weather today couldn’t have been more different than the last few days. It’s been warm, bright, sunny and generally glorious. We decided to take a trip to Unst with two objectives: 1) to record a colony of […]
post by Joseph) A day of rain… A day for staying indoors and catching up on sound and photo editing and compiling. We took ourselves out briefly at midday to go and visit a couple of knitters near Cunningsburgh (one […]
(post by Joseph) Today we went to the Cunningsburgh show! This is the biggest agricultural show in Shetland. The post is subtitled “Old MacDonald” after the sound file below… You’ll understand why when you hear it! I had fun recording […]
(Kay) Today we had a very useful meeting with Howard Towll from Shetland Amenity Trust. Howard is a ranger who knows the islands inside out – the geography, geology, natural heritage and basically everything we needed to know. The main […]
(post by Kay) Today I road tested a new gadget acquired especially for this project. A digital microscope to look at plant structures in closer detail. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how easy it could be. Technological genius means […]
(post by Joseph) My first writing stint of the residency… This afternoon we went on a test recording and flower-spotting trip to Vementry and a small creek at the end of road in front of a solitary holiday cottage. The […]
(post by Kay) A bit of background to how we ended up here: Five years ago I was commissioned to deliver a participatory public art commission by Shetland Schools Service for Olnafirth Primary School in Shetland. I spent several months […]
After an £8million redevelopment project designed to open up new dialogues between its collections of decorative and fine art, York Art Gallery is preparing to reopen. Amelia Crouch speaks to the curator of the gallery’s core collection of ceramic art Helen Walsh, and to fine art curator Laura Turner, about how this dialogue is continuing with a series of new commissions by contemporary artists.
Having measured my kiln and the packing area I have to accommodate the new muffle (or saggar) I then made a plan on paper of the box like structure I was going to make to install in it. Leaving 2″ […]
Still working on my piece for the M.U.D exhibition at the end of this month, the piece looks at how we place value on items such as those we use to drink out of and have take away food in. […]
The piece im creating at the moment is a 3D wall mounted piece made out of ceramics. This piece strives to show the idea of “one mans rubbish is another mans gold” and focuses on the issues of disposable objects […]
Documenting the process of devising and using a coastal muffle kiln culminating in an exhibition of new ceramic works onboard a floating light vessel moored in the Medway estuary.
