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I've been working on a new series of vessels, or vases if you prefer, for a while now. Shortly before the pandemic started, I had been exploring a series of ceramic floral brooches with fringe-like petals. I made a few of them that I am happy with, but with the lockdowns and cancelled popups and other events, I had more time to explore other ideas and I began to translate my fringe technique into small vessels. I was delighted with the first trials and have been making a few at a time, improving my hand-building skills ever since. My kiln is small (it's really hot, but really small) which meant that I was limited in the size of vessel I could create. Until... a dear friend of mine named Holly Wheatcroft (the incredible woman I teach kids art classes with at her fabulous art school, The Art Room) offered me a chance to work in her studio for many days last spring. This was such a gift since her kiln is BIG.
As many of you know, wet clay that has been formed and made into an object must be dried before it can be fired. When it is completely dry, before firing, it is called greenware. (I'm not sure where the term greenware comes from, but certainly that's searchable... at another time!) Anyway, the greenware is extremely fragile. Small pieces can easily be knocked off with a false gesture, and even a bump could potentially shatter the whole thing. In other words, it's best to make and dry the pieces in the same place where they will be fired so there is less chance of jostling the pieces on their way to the kiln. Firing clay at very high temperatures shrinks the clay and as it does this, the clay molecules condense and become more solid. The chance to work in Holly's studio meant I could go big! I could experiment with making my fringed vessels at a much bigger scale- the tallest so far is 14" (36 cm)- and be able to fire them on location without breaking pieces if I had tried to drive them to another studio with a big kiln. And it worked! And I'm thrilled! And now I'd like to introduce you to my new series of Fringed Vessels.
What I love the most about these vessels, besides the fact that I had never built something so large in clay before, is the way the fringe gives movement to the clay, an inherently solid and static material. People who have seen my vessels use words like, windblown, anemone, grasses, seaweed, and even, the wiggly sponges of a carwash- and I embrace all of these terms because a sense of movement is the overarching theme.
They are lovely with flowers in them, and are animated objects without. They are vessels, which means they can hold things, but what they hold could be as ephemeral as an idea. They could gracefully hold potential. Ebb and flow while metaphorically holding plans or goals. Or physically hold a bouquet cut from the backyard garden.
I love them grouped on our piano as a flowing sculptural cluster. They dance and flow, especially in a grouping. On their own, they seem to move and sway in a kind of breezy playful state.
I am thrilled that a collection of these vessels are now available in the lovely shop at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics in Toronto. Another group of them will soon be exhibited in a beautiful new Toronto gallery. Please get in touch if you are interested in them or if you know of a gallery or shop who might also be interested.
And for the record, the fringed flower brooches have been on the back burner for quite some time now. We'll see if they ever come back to the forefront. But even if they don't, maybe they have served their purpose in guiding me to create these new vessels. And who knows, that might be all they were meant to do.
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