Steep Slope

Sometimes things do not go as we want them to go.

Ceramics is a medium in which many things can go wrong. I have spent the last two months trying to get two orders finished. I failed to realize that the kiln was over firing, then I kept throwing too thin specially the plates, and third I failed to recognize the reason why I was not getting a particular green with one of my glazes. The kilns I used, two, were over firing more than 30C. I have learned from this to always use cones,in order to be sure of what is happening during the firing, and keep a record for the firings. I learned a lot about my glazes their range and color/texture possibilities. And my throwing, it was intensive for the last two months and very focused, on the shapes I needed to get. I would have enjoyed this process more if it were not so stressful and exhausting. I was working at Cheeky Tiki, ceramics production, bar ware, at the same time. There were limitations on time and the availability of the kilns, I share my studio with more than fifteen people. We share the 4 kilns, one too small and another very big, which leaves two, both over firing.

The mugs due to their compact shape survived always, and the glazes became glossier but apart from some blisters, not happening much in the mugs, they looked even more beautiful and intense in a glossy way. All but the green of the teapot, which is a case on its own. It has so many variations in color and texture, glossy going to soft matte to even dry texture, color from black/green to dark blue/green to bluish/grey to metallic blue. All that depending on thickness of glaze, texture and surface on where the glaze was applied, inside or outside, method of application and finally the temperature of the firing and the position in the kiln.

Cockington Ceramics Festival, Torbay, South Devon

Lovely area, I was really looking forward to this event. It was not just for the ceramic event I was taking part in. The area is of astonishing natural beauty, it is by the coast, I was going to the sea. The image is from the day of my arrival, moody weather but mostly shiny. I had a good walk, first to Babacombe beach, whith its colourful stones/pebbles, greens, pinks and reds, the green blue of the sea, the blue of the sky, the brightness of the sun, the yellows and blues of the flowers. All the saturated colors and the smell of the sea. I follow the coastal path on a circular walk returned to the hostel. I had to do the most of that day. I was tired as I have been carrying most of the day my suitcase and backpack, full of pots, from London to the hostel in Torquay, by train. The weather report was saying that this would be the warmer, sunnier day of the week. So I stayed outdoors till late. The following day Thursday was going to be the day for setting up the stands at the Ceramic Festival. Thursday was going to be windy and with plenty of rain. Very early in the morning I walk towards the caves. There are caves in Torbay, there,were found some of the oldest remains of humans in UK. What to say of the caves, full of fantasies in color and shape. After this my mission was to set up the stand for my pots. Luckily the marquees were super lux and super sturdy. It was a truly windy day. I do not really enjoy the momment of unpacking and unwrapping the pots, so many things, it is not like moving house but... is that kind of thing. When everything is on the table it gets a bit more enjoyable. It is like making an installation, but not so, a window display with many articles and few props. That is my case for the limitations on the weight I can carry myself. But finally it was all ready for Saturday Saturday started for me with a relaxing walk towards Cockington a bit less than an hour. I was going to demonstrate at 10.15 am, and it is always a bit stressing. The theme I choose for this demonstration was that of hand building with dry clay modules, from simple objects to complex ones. The bonds would be done with paper clay. There were no many people at first, but soon they were joined to my satisfaction by a generous group of school children, I felt more at ease. Then the day went by, the sales were good, the visitors, the fellow potters, and the very friendly and helpful people running the event. At the end of the day Ian Gregory was demonstrating as well. Sunday was another good day for slaes. Sandy Brown came along the pavillion as she was later on given a talk at Cockington. There was a full program of workshops, talk and demonstrations running parallel to the Fair. All in all it was a great experience, that the bad weather could not spoil. I am looking forward to come back.

New piece out of the kiln

I still need to be looking at it for a while, but I think this one is finished and completed

Glebe road Open Studios 2012

Settelments and Houses

Since very young I have been drawing houses and villages. I was not the only child worrying about housing and dreaming about the perfect house. It is a common for children to draw and imagine houses. I choosed my first boyfriend at the age of four, one of my neighbours, on the bases that he knew how to build a house, he showed me how to make bricks. His father was a builder and they were renovating their house, and for some reason they were making bricks. It was my first contact with ceramics but I did not realize at that time, or did I?. The house we were living in at that time was old and quite interesting. It belonged to my father's uncle. It was divided in three apartments, connected not just in the exterior but also through corridors and narrow folding ladders. It was for me a castle and my kingdom. My aunty and uncle used one of the apartments which was on top of the garage, but they were just coming for the weekends, my cousins were quite exciting, one was studying photography and the other was always traveling around the world and bringing little treasures, objects from exotic parts of the world. The first floor was occupied by a family and a seamstress/ couturiers workshop. The workshop was a universe of gossip/stories, nice or not fabrics, fashion magazines, and the tools machinery of the trade, so interesting. I used to spend a lot of time there, sometimes hidden so they would talk more freely. Our apartment was on the top floor an attic but spacious, I loved it. But we moved to our own house a few years later and I loose my kingdom, and my community. Our new house was bigger, but no corridors leading to workshops, we were on our own. It felt cold, boring, square and lonely. I never liked it. I wanted to move somewhere else. I am still looking for a replacement of the lost house/community of my childhood. I have not find it. And with the years it seems more and more difficult to find something like that. I have learned with the time that there were/are/will be many problems among people living together. With the years I have got to elaborate/consider how to better divide spaces, how to get the best of sunlight and how would it be possible to make a house more self sufficient on its energy consumption and waste disposal. And many other details concerning materials, building methods and concepts. I ended up been a ceramist and not an architect. I like the making processes too much. I build from time to time ceramic houses. Sometimes they will swim, slide on ice

or walk, others are settlements integrated into nature and others are ruins recovered by nature. I keep building

Orchestrated exhibition with Collective Studios

These two pieces are exhibited as part of the curated show Orchestrated, organized by Collective Studios (http://www.collectivestudios.co.uk/) Funny enough and ironic I found a description that suits very well my work in a book dedicated to toys and called Plastic Culture. They say a toy is an abstraction distilled into concrete form, a drawing that becomes real leaving the two dimensional world and entering our three dimensional one. A dream, idea made corporeal.

POTFEST SCOTLAND 2012

Potfest at the palace. The Scone Palace is located north of Perth less than 10 minutes drive. It was my first time in this city. The location had a fairy tale atmosphere. We were set on a garden of lush green grass, huge trees and flowers, not far from burial grounds. From time to time peacocks will wander passing by the marquees and enjoying the attention of us all. A deer was posing not far away in the distance. It was such an amazing setting. The Scone Palace was the home of the stone of destiny, none knows were this famous stone is now. It got stolen but later on it turned out that what was stolen was just a replica. The original is still hidden somewhere. As usual at the marquees there was a very convivial atmosphere among the potters exhibiting, a festival feeling, including the possibility of rain and cold windy weather. I saw familiar faces from my previous experience at Potfest in 2010, that time we were at Stirling, good memories :) So it was lovely to catch up and meet new people/new work, I felt almost like with family, in the good way. I repeated my adventure trip of two years ago, travelling up from London, carrying all the pots and props with me in two suitcases, one bag on my front and another on my back. I survived again this time. I should mention, the help I received during my journey carrying my weighty suitcases by people of different gender, age, profession and disposition. I am very grateful for the help and the conversations. The display was good and colorful, maybe too many pots on the table, but once I brought all that weight with me, the pots managed to confuse my display logic. I am very happy with my tableware lately, the pots are fresh and earthy with lush colors, warm and joyful. So I was very eager to show them to the people of Scotland But even if it was not a total disaster, there were maybe just a third (optimistic) of the visitors compared to my previous experience at Stirling. It was quiet. Nonetheless we all manage to sell and get some feedback on our work. There were maybe too many things going on that long weekend/bank holiday. One of them was Perth celebrating to become a city, before it was a town. One of the days there was a parade of thousand bagpipe players down in Perth. There is no picture as I missed it. I thought I should not leave my stand unattended. All in all I had a great time and I am looking forward to the next Potfest.