Tag Archives: ceramics

Re:Connecting

Habitats, Wildlife, People

I have been making work for this exhibition for months now, playing with new ideas and developing some of the techniques which I developed during my MA. I have also been enjoying working with Alex Potts whose photographs of the wildlife at Blacknest Fields are simply inspirational.

It has been such a privilege to be associated with this amazingly positive and motivated group who have spotted an opportunity to create a project with wildlife at its core but which is about so much more than just that!

Details are at the bottom of this post. Do come along and find out more about the project, the artists and the materials involved in creating work for the exhibition. I will be there for the raw clay workshop and the Meet the Artists events but this is not about me, there is loads going on!

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.