Ceramic slip decoration

This process involved taking unfired clay, painting different colour slips over and then drawing into the slip for the clay to show through underneath. We also tried some resist techniques with masking tape. I enjoyed working with clay because I was able to create a variety of different textures and make some really interesting marks I wouldn’t have been able to make with a pencil or paint. These tests were just mark making exercises but I can see this working as a series of tiles forming a loose narrative. I have explored this by photographing tiny parts of the tiles I made and putting those into a sequence (above).

Claire Curneen

We had a talk by Claire Curneen. I really liked how she used material in an emotive, metaphorical way.  As she was showing us pictures of her work she explained why she used a particular material. An interesting point she made was when she compared paint with clay in that clay is less illusionary than a painting and is more physical. It made me think about why I might have chosen the materials I have been using in my subject.

Field option 1: Synergies Between Materials and Technology

For my field 1 project this year I chose “Synergies between Material and Technology”because I found the idea of trying out completely different materials and technologies exciting.

I feel that choice of material is important to me, and to broaden this could give me more options of how to go about creating images.

One of the first things we did was go on a tour of the facilities available to us and I found that I was most drawn to ceramics and the glaze room because of the overwhelming range of textures and hues that could be used and how they all looked on different clays. However, I  also liked the sound of working with other materials like glass or wire.