April 23rd, 2012
Well, our gorgeous little daughter arrived into our lives on 11 April, and life will never be quite the same again. In the best possible way! Amongst the changes it means that I am on maternity leave until March 2013, so the blog may change a little over the next year or so. I hope to continue to post, but you never do know!!
Here’s a picture of our gorgeous wee girl.
August 7th, 2011
I’ve been selected to show my current PhD research in the Fresh:Research show in the amazing Original Spode Factory Site at the British Ceramics Biennial this autumn. I will be presenting a new version of the ‘state of play…’ interactive piece, and asking for visitors to contribute to my ongoing research – I do hope you can make it!
30th September - 13th November 2011 in Stoke-On-Trent.
August 1st, 2011
I’ve been invited to show some work as part of the Asia Triennial Manchester – in the lovely Manchester Craft & Design Centre. The work I will be showing is part of The Pol Project that I worked on with Amanda Ravetz and Steve Dixon in India at the end of 2010. Amanda and I collaborated on much of our work there, and the results will be on show here – a series of cups and saucers, plates and the film ‘Entry’ that Amanda made.
Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come…
This is made from hand cut transfers (much like paper cuts) applied to everyday ceramic cups and saucers and fired thanks to Deepak and his father at Laxmi Ceramic Art, in Ahmedabad.
Do come and see the show - it’s open 17th September – 12th November.
July 15th, 2011
Last week I was showing some of my PhD work in progress – State of Play… is an exposition of the work of the PPR group – 7 PhD students from MIRIAD, MMU. It’s been kindly hosted by RIBA Hub, Portland Street, Manchester as part of the PARCNorthwest carnival.
Here is a peek at what I presented;
The reaction to what I have presented has been fascinating – lots of people wanted to engage with the plates and characters presented, and I’ve gleaned a huge amount of stories and insights, along with images of beautiful assemblages. More later…
March 31st, 2011
Nina Hole has had the wonderful collection of matchboxes sent to her for the friends and firemates exhibition, recorded and displayed on this website – enjoy!
March 24th, 2011
I was invited by the lovely Helena at Agence Violette to contribute to Paumes exhibition in Japan Un soutien pour le Japon which will take place in their gallery Deux Dimanche. I spent a lot of time thinking about what was appropriate to make for this exhibition, which asks for postcard sized contributions to sell in order to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross.
I decided that this silhouette of 2 little girls sat on the step of a doorway from The Pol Project, India, would be the best connection. Children have been so affected by the disastrous events in Japan, and deserve our support.
But I also wanted to somehow use the ceramic flowers that were salvaged from the old Aynsley factory in Stoke-On-Trent, and that we also gave to guests at our wedding last year.
Please do send an email to Paumes if you are interested – all the info is on the website linked above.
March 14th, 2011
Liz Vidal has just emailed me from Denmark where she is taking part in Project Network, to say she saw my work in Nina Hole‘s exhibition, ‘friends and firemates’ which is on in the Applehouse, Guldagergaard, Skaelskor, Denmark until Sunday 20th March. Catch it if you can!
This is my contribution – a matchbox from India, filled with 2 small dolls house plates decorated with real gold as part of a drawing I did whilst at Arts Reverie, India.
Another contributor to the show, Priscilla Mouritzen, has made a beautiful set of pieces for her matchbox.
October 30th, 2010
Well – the work got fired, presented, discussed, published, screened, etc. as part of the AIAF 2010. We had a great show at Arts Reverie with the work that Amanda, myself, Steve and Jason had produced alongside the work by the children of Dahl ni Pol. The press were really keen on the project, and lots of visitors enjoyed the show.
Here are a few images to let you see;
October 21st, 2010
Steve and I are going to briefly talk about our ‘pairing’ / collaboration with Amanda out here in Ahmedabad – and give a small insight into some of the work we’ve been doing here, as part of the Pairings Symposium at MMU (UK) tomorrow, Friday 22nd October. . A daunting prospect given that none of us have actually finished anything just yet!!
We hope too that the technology doesn’t let us down and Skype helps us to communicate clearly, without delays, from India to Special Collections…
So I returned to Laxmi, and fired all of the cups decorated by the children in the Pol, which were amazing… Watching as they were fed into the mouth of the furnace, I felt anxious, scared that something may go wrong, worried about how the pieces seemed to be precariously balanced on top of one another, wondering again what is it that drew me to work in this way…
Whilst waiting for the kiln to work it’s magic, we chatted with Deepak about all manner of subjects from the differences in ceramic materials used by different religious groups in India to telepathy, but my mind was constantly returning to the kiln, and thoughts of the kids faces if something went wrong…
And, telepathically or not, I asked if I could check on the kiln and the pieces had just started to re appear on the chainmail belt, shiny, glistening and renewed…
And so, with cups packed beautifully, and armed with yet more pieces to decorate, we returned to Arts Reverie once more, with just a small delay caused by an altercation with some striking rickshaw drivers…
October 15th, 2010
I was aiming to get an early night as I’m running some ceramics workshops tomorrow here in the Pol, but the music from the loudspeakers for the Navrati festivities and dancing appear to be actually inside our haveli they are so loud!! So I’m wondering, should I try and sleep or go out dancing???
Average finish time for Navrati Garba dancing here? 4am.
Workshop start time? 9am.
Answers please…
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