Tag Archives: Wimbledon Artists Studios

The pleasure and anxiety of working to comission!

This week I have been enjoying catching up on a number of commissions.  Some have been in the pipeline for a while, others are the result of discussions held with visitors to the Wimbledon Open Studios last month.

It is a wonderful experience to be creating a special piece for somebody and yet, at the same time, it is slightly daunting.  For much of my work to date, the only person that I have had to please has been myself.  I have been completely free to make decisions about how tall, how wide, how much to scrape back and so on.  I have not really had to think too much about whether one particular person will like it, as long as somebody does, that’s ok.  Theoretically the same goes when you are working to someone else’s contract.  You are the artist.  They are paying you to do what you do.  Yet there is a huge responsibility to get it just right for them and this does add to the pressure.

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There is a huge responsibility to get it just right

This week, one of the pieces I have been focussing on is a wedding present.  I cannot say much about it, just in case it blows the element of surprise.  What I can say is that there is something delightful about making a piece which will be a permanent reminder of a very special event.  All the time that I have been with it I have been conscious of an awareness of the people for whom I am making it; those who have commissioned it and also those who will be the recipients.  This has guided every movement.  Will they like the way the line flows there?  Will that edge excite them when they realise what they can see beyond it?  If I remove this line and smooth that down a bit, will it be more evocative of the place, the time, the memory which was imagined in the initial concept?

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Will that edge excite them?

Now that these pieces are in the kiln I find that I am more excited than ever to get back and see how they have come out.  I am longing to give them to the people who asked for them and to watch their expressions.  They think they know what they are getting but they have had to trust me with their memories, their emotions, their special places and that has made me feel extremely privileged.  I just hope that I can prove myself worthy of that trust.

Wow!

Wimbledon Open Studios is almost over – this is the last day.  My legs ache, I have spent the last 3 days eating rubbish food and repeating my explanation of my work over and over and over again but oh my goodness, I have had so much fun.

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Whilst one completed piece sits in pride of place another is growing steadily out of its former throughout the weekend.

I made the decision to make during the show for a number of reasons.  I have found it much easier to chat to people when I am also manipulating a piece of clay and people seem to have been more willing to come in when there is something for them to watch.

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Test pieces lining up on the window sill ready for firing.

It has given me plenty to do and lots to say.  Not only that but I am on target to complete the current group of test pieces for what I am calling my ‘Poldark Project’ – exploring the mineral rich spoil heaps of Cornwall within the delicate fragile environment of thin porcelain.  I think I can safely say it has been a successful experiment.

Undoubtedly the best thing about the event has been peoples’ response to seeing first the outside and then, as they draw nearer, the interior of my new work.  The word which has escaped from their lips most frequently – WOW!  People seem to love the idea of the story told in the piece, the relationship of fragile porcelain to found clay and the link to the imagery on the interior. I have made several sales and I am confident of a number of commissions as a result of discussions with home movers and extenders; the bereaved and the loved; relatives of loved ones with imminent significant birthdays and people with a special place in their hearts.  I think I might just be on to a winner here.

So this week, my thanks go to my daughter for pointing me back towards the fragile work I love so much and for feeding me smoked haddock and poached egg when I most needed it, my sister for setting me off on this particular trail, Fred Gatley for showing me how exciting polished porcelain could be, Jonquil Williamson for helping me rearrange my studio so that people wanted to come in, Louise Diggle for pouring Cava into my glass and the rich and varied landscape of this beautiful isle which I am happy to call my home . – Teamwork is everything!

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My Cricklade vessel. When I took it out of the cabinet and put it on a plinth everyone was asking if they could stroke it – the power of polished porcelain!