Boite, Caisse, Housse

The idea behind this project was to create a piece of artwork, then create a form of packaging or container specifically designed to protect and display it. I chose to use horse chestnut shells as my starting point, as there were lots of them in the streets in Nantes at the time, and I had also been looking at natural types of container when we were given the brief to help me think of how containers are designed for the contents they have. I found the shape of the horse chestnut cases very attractive, and also how they protect the horse chestnut yet are very fragile themselves very interesting (the spines are there to deter predators and absorb shock, but they also break off very easily, especially as the shells dry out).  Studying the horse chestnuts and other similar forms led me to develop a series of ideas for a piece to make.

 When I had some firm ideas in my head, I started to make some maquettes in plastecine to work out the best approach, then began my work in stoneware. I wanted the pieces to convey the idea behind the chestnut shells, rather than resemble them precisely. The first piece I made; which I hope to fire then sand soon, is based more on the asian chestnut shell's I found in the Jardin des Plantes, the spines are very thin and irregularly placed so I tried to give that sense to the piece. I had to limit the amount of spined I could attach however, as they became very fragile as they dried and made attaching more a risky business. The second piece is more akin to the chestnuts found everywhere in Ireland, the spines are far less dense and have a thicker base. They were much easier to attach as they were far less fragile, and the piece manages to support itself. I am waiting for it to become a little drier to pare down the points so they are more convex, like the chestnut spines themselves. I am also experimenting with dipping some of the shells in layers of slip before firing them. I have no idea whether it will work or not, and they will be very fragile as well as too small, but I think they could be very beautiful.

Now I have also begun to approach how to package the pieces once they are fired. Cushioning will be a big feature as they will be very fragile, even after firing, but they will also need support. I have been experimenting with different types of materials to create a casing that will work. I am very excited about the end product, as it will turn out something like the opposite to my starting point- with the spikes on the interior instead of the exterior, not something I thought of when I first got the idea!

Hunt Museum Project

This project was based on the contents of the Hunt Museum, which houses a wide variety of art, crafts and history collected by the Hunt family over the years for public display. We were asked to take inspiration from the pieces on display at the museum, focusing on ornate decoration in particular. I was personally drawn to two pieces more than the others, a French rosary decade and an iron tiara from Russia. I sketched and photographed the two repeatedly from a variety of angles to get a full understanding of their make up.

Then I took elements from these two pieces and combined them, experimenting with pattern and repeats to see what had the most interesting effect for me. I found that layering up a flower detail from the tiara with an image of a sketch of the skull at the base of the rosary was the most successful to me, and then I began to work in paper to create a 3D model.

Almost as soon as I began to work in 3D, I realised a larger vessel would have a far more imposing effect on the viewer, and built up some large scale ideas to try and work out the problems that might occur. Making the vessels in clay was quite a challenge, as I made each skull and flower from press moulds to give consistency, but this also meant that I had to build up the vessels piece by piece, rather like a puzzle instead of working in one solid sheet of clay, and consequently it required a lot of support as I was making them. I had to find large moulds of the correct size and shape to support the clay, and not allow the base to dry before I had finished the top, as well as ensuring that the base was thicker than the rim to give support at the bottom and not have any extra weight at the top. I wanted to give a really delicate, lacy finish to the vase, and make it even more overpowering to look at, so I made a sprig mould mimiking the flower pattern from the tiara and used it to make cut out flowers to attach to the top as a rim.

Glazing these pieces was something I had only begun to consider as the semester ended, and I hope to finish of the pieces in naturalistic colours to give an overall effect of a plant or flower vase, enticing the viewer to look closer, untill they realise that there are skulls hidden amonst the flowers, giving a slightly macabre twist on a classic vase.

Collection Project, Patchwork Portrait

In this project, we were given a brief to pick a collection of items, an explore them as objects and also as a collection. I chose my wardrobe of clothes, as I am very interested in fashion and have a lot of clothes! I took all my clothes out of my wardrobe and started to experiment with them, categorizing them into different piles, playing with shapes and textures, and stacking them up at different levels. Experimenting with my clothes like this gave me a clearer picture of the different varieties of clothes I have, and how I use them to reflect my feelings.
I decided to focus on one element of my clothes, to explore it more fully, and I felt the variety of textures could best represent the amount of variety in my wardrobe, and also present the most opportunities for experimentation with ceramic materials. I impressed the fabrics into sheets of porcelain to make little 'swatches' of them, draping and folding them to make them resemble fabric more. I used porcelain to make sure that even the more subtle textures could be seen. I wanted to highlight the textures of the fabrics, so I used coloured glazes which I rubbed into all the creases, and splashed or pooled into some areas.
I bound the swatches together into a patchwork of porcelain sheets to display them together, as a sort of self portrait, and let the contrasts and similarities between the different experiments be seen more effectively.

Halved

hand built stoneware, underglaze colours

This is a piece I made last year. I started with the word 'halved' and tried to illustrate it clearly, whilst still creating an interesting and stimulating piece of work that I could enjoy to simply look at.

I wanted to make a piece that looked naturalistic and resembled a piece of fruit, having studied segments of oranges and grapefruits etc. as part of my research. I think the difference in texture from the outer and inner surfaces of the pieces highlights this, and also helps show the fresh colours I used to make this piece to their best advantage.