In preparation for my first tutorial with Peter Castle I was asked to pull a selection of images together, 30 in total, 15 familiar and 15 unfamiliar to display alongside 30 words on post it notes. Whilst preparing for this I realised that my interests lie in the physical environment and it's processes. This directly links to my background in Geology, topographies, geometry, structural and time based themes became apparent. The words covered a selection of verbs and adjectives the majority of which were related to physical forces, again related to the structural movements apparent in geological processes e.g. compress, tension, folded, arch, twist, erupt.
Questions that arose from my tutorial were
- What does clay do when subjected to such forces, how does it behave.
- What transient states does clay occupy between its creation and manipulation.
- How does clay behave with additions of other material.
- How can one use clay to create a language.
It was an interesting exercise for me as the last time I used clay was many years ago whilst working in the ceramic brick industry and making hand-made pressed tiles in my studio. It quickly became apparent that the start of my MA was a new start with lines of questioning and in-depth exploration required. I need to familiarise myself with the materiality of clay again, the medium is diverse in many respects; its behaviour, responsiveness, appearance etc. A few of my favourites works encountered during a recent trip to Fragile at Cardiff Museum demonstrate in just a few examples clay's materiality.