Home Studio

It has taken a while but finally the studio is finished, all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it! Could you believe you could transform an old 1960's concrete garage into a beautiful, functional ceramics studio.

It is a lovely, airy, light space to work in and at the moment probably the cleanest it will ever be! The whole job from beginning to end has taken 5 months and has been done by my partner Frazer (in-between working offshore) and myself. Apart from the all important electrics which was done by the fantastic 'Electric Mark' - a friend and family member and the kilns were fitted by the lovely Dylan from Northern Kilns. So a big thank you to all who have been involved and a massive thank you to Frazer, for all his hard work, enthusiasm and patience!!

I haven't really had chance to get in there properly yet, just a bit of pottering and assisting family members to throw on the wheel. But that's the great thing, its there just outside my kitchen door and I can pop in whenever I like, for however long I want and I couldn't be happier!

Watch this space.

Sarahx

Grafika Exhibition

The 'grafika' exhibition started this week at the RBSA Craft Gallery in Birmingham. It is a selection of makers who explore mark-making, graphics and illustration within their work, whether it be jewellery or ceramics. Amongst other pieces of my work 'the cracked pot' was selected for the exhibition.

Having previously studied graphic design I have always been inspired by type, so it seemed very natural to express myself using words on my ceramic wares. I was also inspired by the Japanese tea ceremony and had been looking for stories and poetry to write onto my porcelain teacups, when I came across an old Indian tale about a cracked pot. A water bearer in India carried two water pots from the stream to his master’s house, but one of the pots had a crack and leaked. The perfect pot was proud of itself perfect for which it was made. The cracked pot on the other hand was ashamed of himself and apologised to the bearer for its failure. The water bearer responded with;

“Did you not notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path........that’s because I have always known about your flaw.............I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and everyday while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.”

Home studio project

I have been busy building my home/studio this year. I have been at Bankley Studios in Levenshulme since I graduated from MMU in 2007 and have loved it there. But in order to move forward with my ceramics and spend more time in the studio and less time travelling to/from it, I have decided to work from home. We moved house last year and fortunately it already had a double garage, so after quite a few alterations I now have a large, bright and more importantly, dry and insulated studio space to work from. There's still quite a bit to do like the electrics, lighting, plumbing and fitting all the shelving and worktops but that should all be finished by the end of May. I can't wait to get in there and get creative again. I haven't applied for any shows this year which will allow me to settle in and give me some creative time to work on some new ideas. More progress pics to follow.

Clay Connections

Clay Connections - a celebration for National Ceramics Week by North West makers including; Alex Mcerlain, Annie Tortora-Cailey, Brigitte Soltau, Catrin Mostyn-Jones, Gordon Cooke, Jacqui Atkin, Paul Smith, Me, Stephen Dixon, and Sue Crossfield. Exhibition starts Monday 4th April - Saturday 14th May.

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Come and meet the artists in the theatre foyer on Thursday 5th May from 6.00pm - 7.30pm

Heaven in a Rage

I have been busy building my home studio therefore I haven't been very creative of late, but after being commissioned to make some porcelain birds I picked up my pencil and paintbrush (for the first time in a very long time). I started drawing a robin which got me thinking of the William Blake poem - Auguries of Innocence;

"To see a world in a Grain of Sand,

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

A Robin Red breast in a Cage

Puts all Heaven in a Rage.

A dove house fill'd with doves and pigeons

Shudders Hell thro' all its regions."

Picture boxes

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair - 2010

Lidded vessels

I am usually driven by the need to express myself with clay, which may come from an idea within or something I have read or seen. But with these lidded vessels I have been driven by the making process. After sitting on the wheel trying to improve my throwing skills I just wondered if I could make a lid to fit a cup (after having placed a circular brooch onto a cup and thinking it looked good!) I made about 20 or so different shaped vessels with varying lid styles. Usually I love not having a plan when I am on the wheel, working quite freely but with these vessels I was having to concentrate very hard and measure precisely (not me at all!)

I had some disasters with the lids sticking in place during the stoneware firing and was told to just tap with a rolling pin to free the lids. 10 broken pots later I realised this was very unsatisfying for me and the poor pots!! After a desperate e-mail to my uni lecturer Alex I was told that by just applying a small amount of alumina to the lids the sticking would be rectified. Ever since then I haven't had to take a rolling pin to any of my pots!!

Bottles

Brown earthenware bottles with carved detail and a turquoise glaze. Would you believe with all three bottles I have used the same glaze! It just depends how thick it is applied. I am really trying to exploit this quality of the glaze by carving out detail in the pots for the thick glaze to sit in.

Porcelain bottles with stripes - a new style for me. Its not floral!!

Something new for me. I usually throw my bottles on the wheel but after having taught a group how to slab build it inspired me to have a go with porcelain. Really want to have another attempt at this way of making. With the bead detail I created an indent around the whole disk which allowed the silk thread to sit inside it. This has worked really well - a nightmare to thread but looks good!

I threw this bottle in two halves and attached together before turning on the wheel. It allowed me to make a larger vessel than normal but my aim is to generally get throwing on a larger scale.

Bud vase - trying out new inlay colours. I usually use green and blues but these reds and browns have worked well.

Nestled bottles

The bottles always look good when they are nestled together. I made some shallow trays for this purpose. Still in the early design stages but I really like the results and will work on this idea further. One bottle on the tray looks equally nice.

Buddha

Essesntially the Buddahs came about after realising my bottles looked quite like people. Which got me thinking on the wheel to close up the bottle form, thus creating a head. I then carve detail into the surface and infill the lines with coloured clay, then use underglazes and oxides to create more detail. I then finish off the Buddha with silk thread and beads.

Brooches

New brooches that have essentially been inspired by my bottles with silk thread and bead detail. Quite excited by this new work and think there is plenty of room for improvement and development.

Giant porcelain and earthenware button brooches with inlaid flower detail and silk thread

Necklace

Slipcast, hand carved porcelain beads with silk ribbon.

Beads

Slipcast hand carved porcelain beads

Flower Adornment

Vases

Buddhas

Installations