Artist Statement Within my work my intent is

Artist Statement Within my work my intent is to communicate how fragile and venerable life can be but also celebrate it. My work is organic and has a sense of growth but at the same time a sense of death, which is therapeutic and offers a different perspective from which to view the world. My work does not literally depict something happening but rather suggests something taking place, or about to take place. This is great because I want people to experience and interpret my work in their own way rather than my work being something literal as I do not think it would be as impactful to the viewer. With ceramics being a delicate material, I wanted that to be clear within my work to make people have a feeling of awe when looking my pieces as I think this creates the viewer to feel a certain way about something so fragile and delicate whether that is uneasy, worried or amazed that it’s still standing. I am creating a wall instillation inspired by nature especially sea life because I find corals therapeutic which is very much the same way I feel when making in clay. Additionally I want to bring the idea of communicating life and death within my work. I feel strongly about this topic because it is something that is all around us even if we aren’t always conscious of it. Whether that’s in our well-being, the people around us or even in nature itself. It’s nature’s will to live is what to me makes life so wonderful. I want people to notice the fragility of my pieces and feel unsettled by the fact that they are hanging on a wall because of the scale and the material itself as I think people often view ceramic as a delicate material.

I am creating a wall instillation inspired by nature especially sea life because I find corals therapeutic which is very much the same way I feel when making in clay. Additionally I want to bring the idea of communicating life and death within my work. I feel strongly about this topic because it is something that is all around us even if we aren’t always conscious of it. Whether that’s in our well-being, the people around us or even in nature itself. It’s nature’s will to live is what to me makes life so wonderful. I feel like I have a good collection of pieces and that they work well together as a group, as this was something I was very concerned about and I was very conscious of this while making my work.

Tree Fungi Bev Bell Hughes I wanted to make these pieces as if they looked more natural and stable on the wall as the first few that I made couldn’t hold themselves up or looked out of place like they didn’t belong. The first ones I made looked strong together as they were and would look better if they were on a plinth so that s why I made some more suited to be on a wall.

Drawing I had an idea to make a big piece that would lie against the wall and build it up from the ground up so that your attention would be drawn to the bottom and then up to the wall as if it was growing. I had some problems making this because of the way it dries and move forwards which lead to it snapping in half. So this week I will be making more of these but simplify it. I made a thumbnail sketch of how I want this to be in the exhibition, however maybe having 1 or 2 more. Detailed drawing of the piece, took 3 hours to draw.

Drawing I have made cardboard cut outs outlines of all of my pieces which can work to make silhouette paintings looking at negative space which reminded me of this on the right, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on august 6 and 9, 1945. in the aftermath outlines of people and other things were left. Which left a presence yet a sense that something was missing. It gave me the idea that I cold possibly use this idea of loss or that something is absent within my work through using these cut outs to have on the wall amongst my pieces. The reason I made these cut outs was to make it easier to arrange how my work will go for the exhibition as it makes it easier to move things around with out a risk of damaging my work.

Spray Booth Glazing Experimentation Brushed Dipped Sponge • Bought some commercial glazes that I liked and made some vitreous slips (blue and green) • Vitreous slips brushed looked terrible, could see the brush marks and was applied too thin. • The blue was too dark so I couldn’t use it as I want bright colours. • I felt that the glossy commercial glazes did not quite work for my pieces and was not organic, the matt blue turquoise glaze worked better, however was applied badly (could see the brush marks).

Dipped Glazing • This is the colour pallet I want for my work, going with bright yet still subtle colours. • Colours you’d see in coral reefs. • I have a blue that I will definitely be using it’s a matt turquoise glaze (1060) firing. • Also have some velvet underglazes in pink, purple, green, orange and red that I will be testing this week and hopefully use. • The way I want to apply the glazes will mostly be through dipping and using the spray booth for the medium and bigger pieces and brushing for smaller pieces or anything hard to glaze any other way. Brushed Dipped (x 2) Spray Booth

Exhibition Plan I want people to experience my work hanging on a wall as if they were coming across this nature filled space full of life in front of them where you wouldn’t get the same feeling of awe as you would if it was displayed on a plinth or a shelf. However I also want people to notice the fragility of my pieces and feel unsettled by the fact that they are hanging because of the scale and from the material itself as I think people often view ceramic as a delicate material. I want the wall space to have enough room around the area for people to walk up to it, to walk around it to view it from different angles, this way they can experience my work in different ways rather than seeing it from just one view point.

Heather Knight Courtney Mattison • • • Focuses on different textures found in the sea (coral reef), All about the making, not focused on the glazing. • • Shannon Sullivan Junko Mori • • Metal work, inspired by nature and drawing and making processes. Doesn’t plan her pieces - making process. • She gets inspiration form looking into nature though a microscope. • I like the colours she uses (subtle), and how she uses the wall to enhance her work. Changed the outcome of her work completely through working with the wall as if it was a blank canvas and is kind of the same approach I want to have with my work. Like the way she uses colour to communicate life and death (corals turn into white skeletons when they die). Would like to focus on colour in a similar way (using coloured clay). Colour is what makes nature beautiful (whereas when something is dying the colour fades.

Make more of these, in different shapes and sizes.