City Lit Arts – Page 8 – Bridget Macklin

collaboration 1 — Collaboration 1 awaiting firing

Collaboration – the action of working with someone to produce something. What a lovely idea, especially when I might otherwise be inclined to drift a bit post diploma with no specific project in mind. So just when I thought there was no life after City Lit along come two people, quite independently of each other, wishing to work with me.

Actually, if I am totally honest, the project with Trevor Ruddock Black had been on the back burner for a bit whilst I made it to the end of the course, but this week is the first time that I have begun to think seriously about it. Trevor paints in oils. He makes vibrant abstract paintings on a very large scale and with fantastic texture. A little while ago we discussed the possibility of creating complimentary three dimensional pieces and so this week I started exploring how we might do that. Of course foremost in my mind was how to get a cast of his paintings without destroying them in the first place. Funnily enough that seems to have been the easy bit! The painting has survived completely unscathed. Phew! Next came the difficulty of working with a great many undercuts which normally make it impossible to take a good cast from a mould. Lets just say that I am working on that. But the good news is that, at least on a small scale, I have almost cracked it – please excuse the awful pun! And now I have a small box which is a copy of Trevor’s painting awaiting firing. I can’t wait to see the results. The next step is to think about colour – I could pass the box over to Trevor for that bit, or I could do something which compliments his painting. The one thing I know for sure is that I am not going to copy his art!

Then, out of the blue, I was approached by a sculptor wanting help with casting porcelain. Her project sounds really interesting and we met for the first time to discuss it yesterday. I am full of hope for another interesting partnership.

Meanwhile, this week marked the first every meeting of the City Lit Ceramics Diploma Alumni 2015 reunion. More on that anon, but it is great to know that we have each other in this time of transition and the thought that we are already planning our first group exhibition post graduation fills me with excitement. Not sure where or when but we will Re-turn. Sorry, more awful puns!

I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who are in one way or another supporting my quest to become an artist. I never realised that I needed people so much as I have over the past couple of years and I cannot end this post without saying thank you to my best friend, the person who, over the past couple of years, has demonstrated the most amazing capacity to support, understand, wait, cajole, cook supper and keep the house from becoming a health hazard.

I do not think being on your own between study and next step would be good for anyone but I certainly feel pretty blessed. Go Team!

There was something missing this week. I kept feeling I should have been at City Lit but I have finished. I am a fully fledged ceramic artist. I am on my own now! Scary thought!

I have been into the studio a couple of times, in a rather listless manner. I did a bit of sorting out, I washed the floor, I threw some stuff away. I generally felt a bit lost. But now I have given myself a bit of a shake and written a To Do list – the first for at least two weeks.

1: A proper tidy up! My studio, my workspace at home, the rest of the house. They are all covered in stuff that needs to either be put somewhere appropriate or binned.

2: My sister gave me some clay a while ago from the foundations of an extension that she is having built onto her house. So far it has sat, neglected in a plastic bag awaiting my attention. Now the germ of an idea is forming – site specific art from peoples homes, in their homes. I need to know what this clay is about. What colour does it fire? What temperature does to prefer? What does it mix well with? Get testing!

3: Even longer ago I discussed a collaboration with a fellow artist from Wimbledon Artists Studios who paints in oils with a lot of texture and some fabulous colours. Now I need to do something about it!

4. Development. If I am honest I did not feel pleased with very much of my final exhibition. It seemed more like work in progress. Actually I don’t think I even liked it by the end. However, there is definite potential in both the fragile work and the more robust pieces. How extraordinarily complacent it was of me to stop making before the end of the course. This work is NOT the finished pieces. It is one small step. Now I need to get the angle grinder and the polisher out and attack this work giving it a more interesting voice. What was I thinking!

And whist I start making whatever I would like to make, without a specific deadline, without the scrutiny of my tutors, without the need to have it marked I know that I have the voices of my wonderful tutors there in the back of my mind: ‘edges!’, ‘just do it’, to name but two. So I am not alone. I just need to focus in a different way.

This week I visited the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham for the first time. Not surprisingly, given Farnham’s reputation for ceramics, they have some stunning clay work. As I walked in, the first thing I spotted was a display of work by Luke Bishop. I know that name! He was on the course before me at City Lit. So two years on he is represented by a fabulous gallery in the heart of a ceramics town – there is hope for us all! Around the corner there were several artists work which were there as a part of the Crafts Council, Hothouse scheme for emerging makers. Exciting, interesting and beautiful pieces. The application form for Hothouse is on my desk. Perhaps I can put off the tidying up for another day whilst I complete the application!

Tag Archives: City Lit Arts

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