Tag Archives: ceramics

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.

New term, New work

The second year of the diploma is now well under way and I have been very busy planning and making for the last few weeks.  Two projects are currently under way; the Journey project which obsessed me all over the summer and a throwing project to make a working fountain.

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River meanders under construction
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Fountain project – in need of more work!

My journey project uses the metaphor of a river to consider life’s journey, collecting memories and experiences along the way.  I am making a series of meanders which will interlock to demonstrate progression and which will contain artefacts gathered on my walk from the mouth of the River Thames to its source.  The fountain project is proving much more fun than I had expected.  The way it will work is complicated and I am not ready to reveal it yet but I can assure you that the prototype was tested yesterday and water was successfully pumped through it to appear in the right places.  Hopefully the main piece will be slightly less warped -more structural clay – and the water which exits the holes in the fountain will be controllable enough that the water will remain in the right area and not soak the work of my neighbours during our assessment!