Lockdown Project Results & How the ideas evolved.
The Lockdown project I was working on has developed and evolved into a new body of work . I have named the new collection ‘From Nereus’ as the final results are reminiscent of historic pottery which has been pulled up from the seabed. The exterior surfaces are textured with dry, crusty glazes bearing fragments of text and drawings while the insides are smooth and glossy from a gorgeous glaze that highlights the throwing rings in soft tonal colours. When it started however, the pieces were quite different as you will see. They were 3D sketches really, that I have refined and nurtured into a final collection that embraces some of those early raw ideas.
Pictures above : From Nereus final collection.
It’s interesting to look back now at some of the early pieces and see how the ideas have developed and evolved. In the beginning I used a green glaze in a free and painterly application as I was exploring ideas of freedom and contained energy. I decided that this application was too distracting and competed with the forms themselves, I felt it looked a bit chaotic. This idea of contained energy /breaking free eventually made it’s way to the rims where I deliberately rip and pinch allowing the momentum of the wheel to create an uneven and spontaneous edge which highlights the energy of the process and for me, demonstrates that idea of contained and escaping energy. I enjoyed the fluidity of the green glaze so began to develop glazes that might give me a fluid feel but with a gentler aesthetic. Finally I came up with the one you see on the left in the pic above. It varies in tone depending on thickness and accentuates the purposefully left throwing rings. Soft tones of green, grey & blue highlighted with a soft, warm yellow. The outside glazes offer a deliberate contrast. I worked on dry glazes in various combinations that would give me a ‘lost over time’ feel.
Early explorations from which my ideas were developed and refined.
You’ll notice that I experimented with using a wing form on the side of one (above left). This idea, over time and various trials became better referenced as a drawing on the surface rather than part of the form itself. Once I had decided this, and dropped the idea of creating a literal wing appendage, it made me smile to see the multiple additions on the Tall Vessels in the range, that not only evoke the idea of a handle, but also, I later acknowledged and embraced, there is a certain wing-like quality that has emerged there. (Pictured below right) The text was originally inlaid into the surface of the pieces alluding to forgotten stories carved into rocks etc. Although I liked the result, and it worked nicely being slightly obscured, but not entirely covered over by the green glaze, it would have been completely lost under the thick layers of glaze I now had planned, so it needed a different solution and is now added on top of the glazes - fragmented and faded, emerging from the rough textures.
‘Purpose’ was another part of this theme. I used shapes added to the thrown vessel forms that would suggest a purpose, but in reality, these handle-like additions did not aid any function of the piece. I enjoyed playing with the proportions, compositions and abstractions of ‘handles’ and feel that the end results of this particular part of the project have added a lot to the overall aesthetics and energy of the work. ‘Freedom’ has been a great theme to work with as, along the way, as always, I had ideas that my brain initially told me ‘You can’t do that!’ but exploring ‘Freedoms’ as an overarching idea of the project, I quickly got in the habit of answering myself with ‘Well, why can’t I do that?’ I’d think it through, and as long as whatever idea i had didn’t waiver from my themes i’d get on and give it a try. Lot’s of things I explored didn’t work, or i didn’t like but It’s liberating and creates exciting results in the end.
The wrapping idea was also there from the start. For me it was a a way to further reference the idea of restrictions by physically binding the work but with the additions of the little lugs, there is also a suggestion of some forgotten purpose. You can see from previous pictures that the wrapping started with thin clay coils, then went on to coloured cotton and finally into leather.
It is interesting to look back and see how the ideas have been filtered and adjusted, sometimes even subconsciously, into something altogether more interesting. You can find out more about the full collection here - FROM NEREUS COLLECTION
If you’d like to find out about the ideas behind the project and my approach to it, please click the link to a previous blog post below : there is also a link to an instagram chat I did in the post if you’d like to hear me talk through my work in progress at the time.