My normal schedule for this residency has been Wed-Fri, but this week
it’s been a five-day affair. The AIR
program includes the provision of a mentor for the artists and on Monday I
travelled to Hobart to spend some time with mine, Belinda Winkler. We got lost in conversation for a number of
hours and I left feeling tired but affirmed that my work and career are on a
firm path. Tuesday was spent back in my
studio being filmed for a short clip being made about the AIR program. The manager of the program, Wendy Morrow from
arts@work, was present and it was great to be able to share my progress and
processes with her and hear her responses.
The activities of these first two days were well timed as on Wednesday I
had to prepare for the talk I gave on Thursday at the university, with the
discussions I’d had boosting my confidence in my ability to articulate my
thoughts about my work. I spent much of Thursday morning with my group of
students using clay to extend our exploration of line making, then I went off
to the Uni to present the lunchtime forum along with my fellow AIR artist
Alicia King, who has been working at Launceston Church Grammar School.
The forum was well attended, no one walked out halfway through and as
far as I could tell everyone stayed awake, which I’ll take as confirmation that
we did ok. I had managed to avoid
over-preparing, going in with just a collection of images, the URL of a YouTube
clip and some handwritten notes. I think
I managed to present my jumble of thoughts in a cohesive package, and we
finished within the allotted time slot.
There were even a number of questions for us afterwards, which is always
a good sign.
As a result of all of this activity though I’m now feeling a bit
drained. So instead of writing the blog
that I promised, explaining why on earth I’ve been collecting teabags, I’m
going to spend the rest of the day ‘doing’ instead of ‘thinking’.
For now
though here are some images of the outcomes of some experimentation I did a
couple of weeks ago with clay, which I have become re-inspired by now that I’ve
fired them.
Strata made with porcelain.
Do you see the parallels between this and the line-drawings?
Various materials dipped in liquid porcelain,
to see what would happen when the original material
was burnt away during the firing (1200deg)
Cardstock dipped in liquid porcelain of various thicknesses.
Another method for making lines with clay.
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