In the studio
Working in my space at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio
The first few weeks after getting back from my field trips have been spent largely in the studio, particularly after I finished my last day of full time work at the National Museums, Scotland on Monday the 14th of August. So since then, I’m officially a full time student.
My studio’s located in the Glasgow Ceramics Studio, which, in turn, is part of the WASPS artists’ studios complex on Hanson Street, in Glasgow, Scotland.
I used to commute a fair way to the studio on my days off work - as I live in Edinburgh - and it would take roughly 3 hours door to door by bus (one way) or about 1 hour 45mins door to door by train. Now I’m renting a room in Glasgow as well, so I don’t have to commute every day and things have considerably picked up in the studio as a result.
WASPS (Workshop and Artists’ Studio Provision Scotland Ltd) is a Scotland wide organization, which rents subsidized studio spaces to artists around the country. The 77 Hanson Street studios are located in a converted and refurbished building which once was the home of a cigarette factory. Apart from about one hundred artists’ studios, which range from large communal spaces such as ours to private single-person spaces, the building also houses an administrative office which is the headquarters for the organization, plus a cafe.
The Glasgow Ceramics Studio is situated in a large ground floor space. I share the studio with about a dozen other ceramic artists. Each of us has a table and shelving in an open plan area, plus we have excellent communal facilities, including a kiln room, drying room, store room, exhibition area, communal work area, mouldmaking area and a little basic kitchen.
The artists I share with range from full time professionals to hobbyists. They have a really nice mix of interests, skills and styles. The atmosphere there is simply lovely - always creative and happy, I get so much inspiration and encouragement just being around everyone. The best thing about it, I find, is that no one seems take themselves too seriously - work is not only about making, but also about having fun and experimentation. I have a lot to learn from folk like that!
So, what have I been making? Well, my neighbor teased me the other day, that my MPhil was in fact in plaster and not in ceramics, because she hadn’t seen me touch clay as yet. Point taken, that has now been remedied.
I’ve been making one piece moulds of various commercial tiles and also making plaster bats. Now I’ve about eight single piece moulds and four bats. I’d like to experiment with various methods and techniques of slipcasting tiles.
Why slipcasting? Well, because I’m interested in industrial processes, and I want my sculptural work to be slip cast.
Why tiles? Well, there are several reasons. I thought these would be a good and simple method to get profitient in mouldmaking - being the simplest object to make a mould of. Also they are relatively easy to pack and transport - I’ll have to take them to Australia for assessment. They will also be quite easy and neat to display - I want to use them as tests for porcelain slips, glazes and to learn printing techniques using their surfaces.
So far I have made slips from P2 Porcelain and Special Porcelain. I cast some tiles yesterday in Special Porcelain, so I have yet to see what they will dry like and whether they will survive firing and not warp.
Yesterday I also decided I might like to make two piece moulds - since the backs on my tiles weren’t very nice. I know it’s probably not important what the back of a tile looks like, especially a test tile, but I think in my case
- I like to get things as close to perfect as I can (it’s a compulsion)
- ceramic objects are three dimentional, whether they hang on a wall or not.
I might like my tiles so you can turn them over. Have to think about that one a bit more.
I’ve got quite a few photos so clicking here will take you to those albums.