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'
Fragmented Figure: Documenting Process
The relationship between ideas, materials and process often contains a progressive friction as one imposes its will upon the other prompting adaptation, compromise and invention as the final outcome is developed. The role of film in capturing this interactivity is particularly effective, especially in the field of ceramics where the processes and skills are so varied and compelling for both artist and viewer.
The following films taken from the 'Fragmented Figure' research (for details: FragmentedFigure.net ) documents 5 very different artists practice exploring the integration of key aspects of their creative process.
Finding Models of Practice Across Artforms
Finding connections between practice and the history of ideas can take many forms often the least of which is visual similarity. Understanding that an artwork can be a crystallising of debate means that it can find connections with imagery, conventions, movements within and beyond arts practice.
The Interrelationship Between Representation and Expression
The fragmentation of the figure in how I interpret this. is more to do with what is missing and there is certain crudeness to making a figure perfect and actually rendering and producing and presenting a complete figure, which would be too obvious and it would be lacking in anything meaningful to me. Though having said that, there is something quite neat and tidy and nice and straight forward and something that appeals to me when I can actually represent and produce and make a part of the figure or represent the head or arm and that to me is very pleasing but to actually put them together to make something perfect is just slightly pointless. This probably makes is sound faintly ridiculous in describing that because I’m doing it but putting too much information for the viewer or representing it too fully is not the point, I'm more interested in what is missing. And also there are things that you can do that are more powerful, and more interesting for me. I don’t want to just make the figure and there it is, I what to show, to express a little more
Jill Bryers 2005.
When the Action of Making Echoes the Subject
The relationship between ideas, materials and process often contains a progressive friction whereby one imposes its will upon the other needing to adopt, compromise and invent along the way to establishing final outcome. The role of film in capturing this interactivity is fast becomming vogue especially in the field of ceramics where the processes and skills are so varied, particular and compelling for both artist and viewer.
Poetry Between Material and Narrative
I think that through working with the figure and the referencing material which has arisen over 99/2000 which is specific of the Pierro della Francesca and the Serano images, is the nature of the subject matter and that connection to what is happening, what event is being portrayed, which at the same time has very much a universal language, a universal nature. But in terms of the content of what I’m exploring, things like the St Sebastian figure, which is a figure which is quite well known, I use that to play with ideas of the body, about the flesh as opposed to just the skin of it, how the arrow hits the surface and the time involved in terms of how the gold trickles down the surface, it relates to a time element when the arrow hits. I’m just very drawn to the narrative and the story so I use that as a way to translate ideas about the human condition, about life/death, about connections to our questions on mortality, and issues that are too much to deal with sometimes, but I have this urge to be drawn to them
Claire Curven 2005
Histories Told Through Process
The relationship between ideas, materials and process often contains a progressive friction whereby one imposes its will upon the other needing to adopt, compromise and invent along the way to establishing final outcome. The role of film in capturing this interactivity is fast becomming vogue especially in the field of ceramics where the processes and skills are so varied, particular and compelling for both artist and viewer.