Launching on Friday 23rd February 2024
I was asked to create a special collection for The Shop Floor Project for a late winter early spring breakfast table inspired by the kitchen at Dennis Severs’ House in Spitalfields East London. On lidded pots I have incorporated found objects from the Spitalfields antique market and the Thames Foreshore and have made special fruit stands, candle sticks and plates in white and black earthenware clay.
I was chosen to be part of a group exhibition with my Weight of Uncertainty installation pieces at Gallery 57, 57 Tarrant Street, Arundal, West Sussex.
The Gallery is showcasing artists who use different approaches to working with textiles and clay.
Showcasing the work of six British artists Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly asked me to exhibit with them again this year as part of their history of supporting makers and and independent artists.
I was asked to create a series of cups and saucers , with cobalt blue designs and gold lustre detail. The show is on the first floor until April.
After the lockdown directive on March 24rd I was struck by a phrase I heard describing “the weight of uncertainty”. I decided to translate this expression into a clay weight of 1 oz per day. 7oz in 7 days. I made a vessel everyday describing any feelings or information relevant to that day. I also wrote the date on the base of each piece.
The accumulated uncertainty over the ensuing 103 days of official lockdown are visually represented in this collection of vessels. They are all the same weight, are around 3-5 cm high and made of white and black earthenware clay. The darker clay reflecting days of darker mood. I stopped making them on July 4th when so many of the lockdown measures were lifted.
On January 4th a third national lockdown was announced and I returned to my previous project The Weight of Uncertainty.
This new work in progress is Part 2.
Once again I am using 1 oz of clay as the weight for each thrown vessel and I am making one for every day of this lockdown. The accumulating vessels represent the passing days and the weight of uncertainty felt within them. So far I have only used dark clay.
