Good Evening!
I have returned from an unwanted, lengthy break (due to internet issues) and can't wait to get you up to date with my latest arty adventures and discoveries!
So, I'll pick up where we left off with the pot-making! I have worked a design onto one of the fired pots with pencils that can be used on ceramic, and I glazed the group of them, so I will do another post once I get them back from another firing!
I have also been making small figurines loosely based on the horror fiction I've been reading recently, and after getting a few of them out of the kiln today I think I'd like to work onto them with an underglaze paint. I also got a pot back from the kiln today, and sat for a while staring at it's blank surface, stuck for things I could draw onto it. Then I looked at my Ed Hardy note pad and as simple as that, something clicked and I drew the tattoo design onto the pot!
It's quite an interesting development for me to use tattoo designs as imagery to put onto my ceramics, especially since I have always been fascinated by them and the idea of body art and permanence. The same principal of being tattooed applies to making a ceramic, a design can be permanently fixed onto the surface and creates something to admire. I never thought that my interest in tattoo art could be incorporated into my studio practice, but I think I will continue with this idea and see where it takes me. I was looking for a direction to lead me away from the 18th and 19th century designs and aesthetics I have been so heavily reading into, and an essay I read by Susan Sontag titled 'Notes On Camp' has encouraged me to not be afraid to make something for pure visual pleasure. I feel like recently I've been too involved in searching for a reason or a function for the things I've been making, but if I take a step back I'm sure they will appear in time as I continue to make more ceramics.
I've also been reading a lot of essays on 'Craft' and am hoping to get into some writing, which of course I will be posting on here for all of you! I went to a lecture at the British Museum a couple of weeks ago, given by the wonderful Grayson Perry about his exhibition 'The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman' and he brought up some interesting ideas about the art world and crafts, which were touched upon in another lecture I attended there about British Contemporary Ceramics (I know, it's a ceramic overload) where the gradual acceptance of craft into the art world means the difference between an artist who works with ceramic and a potter with a conceptual idea is very blurred.
Anyway, I shall leave it at that for now, but I will certainly be reporting back soon with more exciting developments!
XX
