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.

Silver Linings . . .

No idea what this is but I think it is tubular!
Boxes
What is this fascination with boxes all about, I wonder?
Liquified doodle.
Liquifaction
scan 1
Is it a lobster?? Or a lot of strangely shaped boxes arranged in a pattern?

My plan for a few days break this week was to spend it on a wonderful stretch of the Cornish Coast having a last sail before the winter storms.  Well, I got there.  I even had a swim!  But then a phone call from family in Exeter summoned us to help out and we jumped back in the car.  So here I am with plenty of time on my hands and loads of work to do.  Get on with it, Macklin, I keep telling myself.  But first let me share the results of a few doodles with you.  I have been sat in a cold boring corridor for hours doodling and wondering about my next project for college in which I am meant to reflect back over the course so far and decide on something to take to the next stage.  I am finding this difficult – so much to be improved upon!  So, while reflecting, I draw.  I suppose it is a form of automatic drawing.  I don’t think about it, I just let the pen do the walking.  Then I have been popping the doodles into Photoshop to see what happens when I mess about with them.  Would be interested to know what people thing because I actually find them rather appealing.  Or maybe that is just me . . . .

Inspiration

Buick 3
Adam Buick, Small Jars.

I have been looking at a number of artists during the research stage of my current Journey project and thought I would share with you two of the artists whose work I love and from whom I am drawing a great deal of inspiration at the moment.  The first is Adam Buick  whose work is itself inspired by the landscape but also by Korean Moon Jars which are his signature piece.  I first encountered him at Ceramic Art London in 2013 where he was showing a film called Earth to Earth which I found very exciting.  Since then I have searched out his work wherever I go and it never ceases to thrill me. http://vimeo.com/26597673.  I love the way that he reflects and also makes use of the landscape within his pots and I find the multiple similar shapes intriguing.

The second artist whose work has been filling me with ideas recently is Robert Smithson.  I discovered his work whilst researching this project.

Robert Smithson

Apparently his Spiral Jetty piece is very well known – but it wasn’t by me! The work which I prefer however are his smaller, gallery scale pieces.

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/images/detail/robert-smithson-mono-lake-9444
I love the altered repetitions in these works and the relationships between the pieces and the spaces which they inhabit. His awareness of scale is interesting too. ‘Look Closely at a crack in the wall and it might as well be the Grand Canyon.’ This quote feels so appropriate for the way I think – a ripple in the sand can become the Amazon if you want it to, on the other hand the world is just a marble in the palm of your hand.