There is a particular quality of silence in an empty room, especially a family home when the door slams loudly and voices dissipate along the street. It is as if the air exhales, released from its constant disruption, constant churning by children running up the stairs and through doorways. For a moment, it is given reprieve to settle into the spaces left behind.
Material Presence 2018
May 2019
Ceramics Art and Perception: article 'Pacing the Perimeter'
May 2019
Ceramics Art and Perception: article 'Pacing the Perimeter'
Natasha Mayo
I am a researcher, ceramist and Senior Lecturer at Cardiff School of Art and Design and since 2010 part of the cooperative ‘Fireworks Clay Studios’.
Overview:
Whilst a key concern for artists is innovation conveyed through the final outcome of their work, there are few who take as their subject the experiences and processes of creativity itself; how an artwork begins, how ideas are built upon and driven toward overriding expression. Creative thinking is often taken for granted, a means to an end, used to structure and mobilize other themes and ideas.
Yet, if we consider what is actually involved in the generation of art, it can become a compelling and enriching theme. We can enter behind the scenes and gain access to an alternative wealth of creative possibilities.
This examination of creative thinking has led to a dual approach - cross-disciplinary workshops, seminars and writing coupled with my own artistic practice, both testing the boundaries and preconceptions of ceramics to identify more wholistic generative approaches to creativity.