As I made these bowls

I was thinking that one needs to swagger not with contempt but a joyful swagger celebrating life and death ….caring and not caring about both ..the fragility of life and the inevitability of death …one must ?

I have been working on making my Yobitsugi works more refined …more pieces cut out and more detailed decoration especially in the use of colour..I think they are working out well ..

Themes

Making work for The Stratford Gallery… it is interesting to be making works specifically for another country .. a new set of words for a new language of images ..

Working in a set

I always work in a production mode ..a group of works …at that time I have my favourite patterns … eventually I move onto different patterns … but eventually return to my favourites…how to stay in production mode and still keep individuality in each piece …

I have always liked this shape ….it has many various variations of balance in many countries…China , Korea and japan are the places of origin that I am always looking at …The next step of decoration will be interesting so many things change with variations of decoration and origins of decoration…this hip hop 桃山

Towards a new beauty …sandboxed like an apple app staying in my confinement

I appropriated this form from an old German jug .until I started researching European forms I had never seen this style of jug ….one needs to stretch one’s boundaries and explore ….still the patch work Yobitsugi to do … then I think they will work well .

Working out

Playing around with jug forms for The Stratford gallery ..it is interesting to put my aesthetic in European forms … I think it will be up to glazing and decoration to see how they work ..it may be interesting we will see

Pottery , ceramics , studio pottery, ceramic art ….what ever it is called one takes an idea .

I generally work from traditional shapes , one of my next exhibitions at the Stratford gallery the gallery and I wanted to see what my style would look like on more traditional European forms … thus trolling the net for traditional forms that I like …these were taken from a 17th century slip ware mug … what can I do with this form .. where will it lead to …..the form is basic seen in many pottery workshops …….

The how to make it mine is … the journey ? The destination ?

Looking forward to making more new forms for me ,, movement is always good .. hopefully

Making videos for you tube

It is interesting to see in slow motion ones movements and the reaction to and from the clay … it is alive as I am …communication…

At the moment I am really concentrating on larger works .., but I can’t abide empty spaces in kilns ..I just can’t help making pieces to go under large pieces ..,and guinomi are some of my favourite things to make …

Since starting this homepage it has become a making diary of sorts ..and a reference for works to be shown at exhibitions .

The 2 exhibitions that I am making now are for The Milford Galleries in Queenstown and the Stratford gallery in the Uk ..

There is always a balance in making

Ceramics is a balance between madness and science..one has to be able to experiment yet stay in control . Not blow up the lab to speak . Many days and nights are spread between throwing . Turning . Decoration. Glazing . Firing. Cleaning . Thinking . Researching and avoiding the above whilst trying to do one of the above . As the pot is waiting …drying what can one do in the between … my life is lived on a balancing scale … I think this is why I work so long hours …now I have videos to make …life is interesting in this mad lab …

Lately I have started making for 2 exhibitions

One at the Milford Galleries in Queenstown and the other for The Stratford Gallery in Stratford -upon-Avon Part of the process is thinking of making new works researching new shapes and decoration but at the moment my biggest challenge is making videos for you tube , blogging , Facebooking and instagramming , trying to fit everything together once I get the tech down and working together as a team ( hopefully I am part of the team )I can progress more with the works and research towards a more fined Kintsugi style .Yes this strange time we live in has made me move towards more tech something that I have wanted to do for ages but never had the time to do . I am looking forward to the progression of both the work and my tech abilities thank god for the iPad

From my not trying to control what I was making , I have found a new breath a new feeling . This is why I try and not think during the making process. If I only accept what I think is correct then only 2 outcomes are assured success or failure …. those outcomes correct or not are a preconceived outcome ….. thus has no true movement … no true feeling … excitement. Disappointment. Elation . Realisation ….

My work it is what it has become …. yes I am the maker but it is a communication between me and clay .. between me and life ……

Once I have Finished with this it becomes the users time to communicate… and find feeling in what I have made in their lives and moments

Life is good

On making and mistakes. With that image set in ones mind ? Today the porcelain was to wet to add to but as the weather is freezing I blazed away with heaters on , to try and get the base shap ready for cutting this afternoon ..

The forms I had in my mind would not hold the stress of addition .. decision made flicking through a book on old 16th century pots I decided on another shape . Which in turn needed bellowing out of the shape more …and more stress on the to wet clay …

But as often said progression is movement …

My work is often mistakes that are put together pieces of thoughts ….that change … shapes that form from motion rather than my thoughts ….and the acceptance of this …. what is beauty ?

The stoneware clay held up better to this morning’s movements ….hopefully this afternoon I can do something with the porcelain pieces and find beauty in these forms

Working in different clays

Porcelain and stoneware

The softness and throwing quality is very different , does one force the clays to act the same ? Or does one let the clay be itself ….

I think the question is always do I want to force my idea of beauty on the form I have in my mind . Or can I let go of that perfect form that is in my mind and let what happens happens …

What is beauty?