Author Archives: Bridget Macklin

I am an artist working in the field of ceramics creating fragile porcelain pieces which are inspired by the environment or by peoples relationships with the environment and with each other and which often incorporate finds to support their narrative.

The Naming of Things

I love creating new work and, as I work, I know why I am making particular pieces – I understand the story I want a piece to be a part of. The trouble comes when I try to give a piece a name, then I am stuck. Words fail me. Everything seems corny or gauche.

Enter a wordsmith! This weekend I had a truly wonderful time telling the stories of my work to my daughter and, in exchange, she suggested names. This has had a remarkable effect. Whereas before I was struggling to envisage the work in the gallery, now that pieces can be called by their name, I find that I can picture them in the exhibition. I have discovered the flow through the work and can imagine how it is going to look.

Daughter and I played with myths, etymology and implication. We made up words and created order out of chaos. Now I have an exhibition!

Image: Robin Shelton, name: to be revealed.

A friend told me once that she thought if you knew the name of something, you were more likely to remember it. I am hoping that, by naming the works in my exhibition, people will remember to work and, more importantly, the message that I am trying to convey.

New Processes explored for my exhibition.

Last year I discovered that it is possible to use simple photocopied images to create images on porcelain. At the time I was looking for new ideas as a part of my studies. I found myself on the Ceramics Arts Daily website watching a YouTube video of Kristina Bogdanov demonstrating creating lithographs on clay. The first time I tried it was for a solo exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum called Lepidoptera . I created 240 images of butterflies to cover the walls of the gallery. It extremely repetitive but was a sure way to hone my skills!

Now I am using lithography again for a new exhibition, Surface tension. I have been using images of mosses given to me by Cathy Wilson, chair of the Alton Natural History Society, to develop lithographs of mosses, fungi and minibeasts – the little things which many of us generally ignore but are so important for the roles they play in our ecosystems.

Cathy Wilson’s photograph of Ulota bruchii,Bruch’s Pincushion, a moss found on Blacknest Fields conservation project in Hampshire.

Moss image made very ‘contrasty’ ready for printing.

preparing individual lithographs

Applying the lithographs to raw clay: not easy as the surface is curved and the clay is extremely thin. Also, I had to be careful to prevent the ink running down the vessel and staining the very white porcelain.

This piece has now come though the kiln and will be at the exhibition at One Paved Court from 28th June – 16th July 2023. Why not make a date to come and view it there?