Information/ FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you make pottery that can't be used?
This a more complex question than it appears.
There are several reasons.
Firstly I make what I want, no-one else
is setting the agenda for me. My work is
not domestic ware but it seems the most
useful thing to make in clay for a man living
in the 21st century in western Europe.
Secondly I started off making vessels like
everybody working with clay tends to, it's
a very strong tradition to follow, but it's
very hard to make ceramic vessels by hand
in this country and make a living from it.
If I made jugs they would be incredibly
expensive and no-one could afford them (my
working method is usually one-off hand building).
This removes the need to make useful things
from the equation so the question then becomes
-what do I want to make?
Thirdly I have always seen myself as an
artist rather than as a potter, my primary
strength is in my original ideas, the technique
is secondary although in my case it's still
important, I don't think manual artistic
skills are redundant. I have a strong commitment
to the medium, mainly because I like it
and it works.
Why did you change
from making vessels to making sculptures?
At first I tried to follow the studio ceramics
model, whereby you make high quality hand
made tableware for a discerning market.
I soon realised this did not suit my method
of hand building. There was something absurd
about spending a whole day or more making
a vase when the value to a consumer is so
low because comparable objects can be produced
much more cheaply overseas or by mass production
or both. When a situation becomes impossible
something has to change, so I changed to
making something that seems more important
to me.
Where do you get
your ideas, what is your inspiration?
Inspiration is a funny idea, it smacks of
'eureka moments' as if ideas come by magic
out of the sky. When I think about this
I think my ideas come from putting together
fragments of all the things I have ever
seen, read or heard. I think you build up
layer upon layer of information in your
mind and body and then draw on it when you
are ready to develop an idea. It's not a
magical process, it's methodical. I take
photographs almost every day, I sketch things
and write notes, but I also watch TV, read
papers and magazines and surf the internet
and just look around me - just consider
how much information is flowing past you
and through you every day - it is quite
staggering, there is no shortage of material
to work with. As an artist you just have
know how you want to sort through it and
use it or filter it through your work.
Are you a potter
or an artist?
I am an artist. Saying that can mean absolutely
anything because being an artist is essentialy
self-defined. I am aware that being a successful
artist has a lot of status, being a potter
has a very different status, it has the
aura of the artisan or guild, something
about trade secrets, having the 'knack'
knowing the tricks and skills. Both labels
come with a lot of irrelevant baggage but
in the end they are only labels and the
work has to speak for itself.
Why do you work on
a small scale? Would you like to work larger?
I work at the scale I am comfortable with.
Sometimes scale is one of the issues dealt
with in the work itself. Scale in ceramics
tends to be largely dictated by the size
of the kiln you have available but that's
not the only issue. The larger you work
the longer each piece takes but not in direct
proportion to it's height or area. If I
make one piece that is 10 cm tall and decide
to scale it up to 20cm tall it doesn't take
twice as long, it's more like four times
as long. If you consider the volume of 10cm
cubed to 20cm cubed the proportions are
1:8. So scaling up has major implications
in terms of how much work you can get done
in a limited amount of time.
There is a current tendency to try to work
as big as possible because of the awe factor
but just think if you scale up something
ugly, just how much more ugly it is when
you can see it for miles around. So I am
not sure it is always a good thing but I
do think you can get most ideas across on
a small scale.
Why do you work in
clay and not some traditional sculpture
material like bronze?
I work in clay because I like the material.
I could use casting as a reproduction tool
and I don't rule it out, either casting
in clay or in metal. Bronze has an aura
of grand traditions and statues of the great
and good (and people like Saddam Hussein).
It is a material that comes with its own
baggage, it's rarefied and has precious
connotations and of course it's expensive
so it's less accessible. Casting a work
in bronze doesn't make the work any better,
it just makes it more durable and costly.
I suppose it is also like a brand, people
want it because it associates them with
precious and expensive things, they feel
they are buying a sophisticated lifestyle.
One of the interesting things about this
is how few people know what they like, they
use brands and the associations of precious
materials as a dependable guide that helps
them map the artistic landscape which is
otherwise confusing and arcane. In art there
are multiple languages being used and of
course they are mostly changing all the
time as many languages do so it's a difficult
area to understand and a lot of people are
confused by it and many feel shut out by
the obscurity.
History | Artists
statement | Students
|