I’ve just made some new work for the Parade Artists sale, and I’m quite excited about it. These are thrown porcelain bowls with a black stoneware glaze. They’re the sort of size that settles comfortably into cupped hands, quite nice to hold. I’ve polished the base as well, because I love the velvety feel of polished porcelain. This is the start of my new functional body of work. Come and see them (and hold them) at the sale this weekend!

Here’s one of my bowls with a clear glaze. I’m quite impressed with how lovely the Glacier Porcelain turns out. Initially, I had a little trouble with the bases cracking if the bowls were dried too fast, but I soon remedied that by drying them slowly under plastic. We have big automatic ceiling heaters in the studio that I think were mostly responsible for me losing quite a lot of the pieces I made first time round.

Here’s the statement that goes with these:

These fine porcelain bowls are inspired by the swirling water currents of the Water of Leith, as it winds its way through the city of Edinburgh. The liquid-like spirals in this work are formed with the aid of the meditative spinning action of the potter’s wheel.

I share my life between two beautiful, ancient cities of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh. A walk in the green, natural and cultivated spaces, along rivers and waterways in those cities, provides a relaxing break from the pressures of everyday urban existence. In my work, the natural beauty of water serves as a metaphor for life.

Having a unique hand made ceramic object from which to enjoy a peaceful meal, gives time for contemplation and respite from everyday pressures. It is just a small object that can be cradled in the palm of the hand, yet it is warming and comforting, and makes even the simplest meal a special occasion. In an age of fast food and disposable containers, the hand made ceramic object offers individuality and a connection with the earth, from which it is created.

Next weekend, on Saturday 10th (10am - 5pm) and Sunday 11th (11am - 4pm) May, I’m involved in a group exhibition and sale with some other artists from the WASPS artists’ studios in Glasgow, where I’m a studio holder. Our group is called Parade Artists (WASPS studios are located on the corner of Alexandra Parade) and encompasses a range of media, including painting, photography, printmaking, jewelery, textiles, ceramics and glass. The sale will take place in the large front entrance gallery space of the 77 Hanson Street building, alongside the cafe, which is also open on weekends. I’ve made some lovely swirling porcelain bowls for the occasion. Linda McGill, Stuart Grant, Sue Wong and Elinor Caie from the Glasgow Ceramics Studio are also participating. So come along and have a browse if you happen to be in Glasgow. Hope to see you there!

Catherine Bell, Graduate in Residence at the GSA with work in progress.

Thanks to everyone who came to check out our studios at Wasps Glasgow Ceramics Studio during our open studios weekend earlier this month. It was so lovely to have you! If you would like a virtual tour, here’s some photos from my albums.

We’re having a Christmas sale on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of December, so here’s a second chance to visit us! Lots of other artists at Wasps will have their best art wares out for sale that day too. Click here to get the address and phone number for The Glasgow Ceramics Studio at Wasps.

Furthermore, quite a few of the Wasps studio holders and also ceramic artists from the Glasgow School of Art, including Wendy Kershaw and Rachel Fox, will be taking part in the Collins’ Christmas Market, at the Collins Gallery, Glasgow, from 30th November to 3rd December.

The Glasgow School of Art Ceramics Department will also be holding it’s own Christmas Sale, late November or early December. Dates and venue to be announced. Some of the proceeds from this sale are donated to support student educational activities in the Ceramics Workshop.

Three of our lovely and very talented GSA Ceramics Graduates in Residence - Cara Broadley, Lindsay Saunders and Catherine Bell are all exhibiting brand new work in the annual Graduate Exhibition “Fresh” at The White Gallery in Dundee. The show opens on Saturday 3rd November 2007.

Regarding the development of this blog, I’ve done quite a bit of work on my Links page, recently adding a new Research page which provides links to books, magazines and online resources I’m finding useful for my glazing as well as theoretical research. I’ll keep adding resources to this page as I use them. Also check out my glaze results in the week 13 photos.

And, last but not least, we still have a three phase kiln at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio that is FREE to a good home - but you need to pick it up.

L to R: Fraser, Campbell Brown, Eleanor Cale, John, Susan O’Byrne, Bruno Gallagher, Gill, Linda McGill.

This weekend, we (the crowd from the Glasgow Ceramics Studio and our partners), celebrated someone’s birthday in style (but she’s very shy about it so I won’t say whose). So, a very big happy birthday from all of us, Mystery Girl!!

And, for something different, check out the web page of the very talented Bruno Gallagher, a Glasgow based visual and performance artist. And if you fancy philosophy, my husband, Campbell Brown is very talented in that area.

The studio documentation for week 11 is a little delayed - the photos have now been uploaded, but still need captions. Suffice it to say, that it was a very exciting week with the undergraduate full time students starting back at the GSA, including some lovely exchange students from China, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel and Canada (that’s all in the one department!). So, a big welcome to GSA Ceramics to all the visiting students as well as the 2nd years! Apart from meeting all these new people I devoted the week to glaze testing, something that is sure to continue for a few more weeks yet.

Not too much new this week in terms of the studio. I’ve just moved in to my lovely new space at the GSA, which can still do with a bit of decorating, but as you can see, has great potential. I met the lovely Rose Reynolds, who used to have my space, and wish her best of luck with her future. If you’re interested, Wendy Kershaw has photos of Rose’s and other GSA graduating work from last year on her flikr website (Rose’s is the magnetic work on metal shelves).

The decals have been fired onto the cups. See photos from week 10 here. Apart from that I’ve updated quite a few albums. I’ve added a couple of photos to the week 7 album because I made slip again - and there was no point recording the entire process over again, but I had missed out a step.

I’ve also bought and ordered various materials and tools and things to get me started - and had quite an adventure getting about town and “discovering” the pound shops on Sauchiehall Street, as well as ‘The Forge’ retail park and shopping centre. I’ve decided to make a Scotland photo album, just to show general photos of what sort of impressions getting around Edinburgh and Glasgow leaves me with. At the moment, there isn’t much in there, but I’ll build it up over time. I’ve also added a few images to the Glasgow Ceramics Studio album.

Last but not least, I’ve made a links page (well, the start of the many headed monster links pages project). This is what most of my time has gone into this week actually.

The idea is to build a resource that I can use and also share with anyone interested, that has all the sorts of information (that can be got off the web) a student of ceramics might require, in one place.

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We have a working electric kiln at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio that we need to find a home for. It’s 20kW, 3 phase, 18 cubic feet and includes an old controller. Click here to see photos and our contact phone number. You’ll find our address on the about me page. The kiln is free to anyone who is willing to pick it up.

I’ve added a new album for week 7. There are 18 new images which include my working process while making porcelain slip, casting tests in conventional moulds and storing them afterwards.

My slip recipe is:

clay 100
water 50
deflocculant 0.2 - 0.5
The deflocculant I’ve used is Darvan 811.

There will be an open weekend at the Glasgow Ceramics Studio on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th October! The open days are part of the national WASPS open studios weekend.

Come in and say hello if you are in the area - there will be loads of original hand made work for sale from all the residents, and we would love to meet you! You can tour our studio, meet the artists, see demos and visit all the other studios as well. The cafe is open for a spot of coffee and cake or sandwiches and soup in the sunshine (well, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the sunshine). Our address is: 77 Hanson Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow, G31 2HF, off Alexandra Pde. Call the WASPS office for directions and opening times on 0141 554 8299. Hope to see you there!

As you can see from my studio photos, the last few weeks I’ve been concentrating on making one piece moulds. I’ve been making traditional block moulds, because the objects I’ve been casting (tiles) are small and angular.

As part of this process, I began to wonder about how to calculate the amount of plaster I needed to use for each particular mould. I want to conserve my resources, to be economical and to avoid being needlessly wasteful of materials.

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Hi, just a quick word to say I’ve updated the photos taken at my studio. Click here for a quick link to see images of the WASPS Hanson Street Artists’ Studios building, the Glasgow Ceramics Studio, and of my working process and work in progress until the end of week 6. There are also photos of the artists I share with and of their work. More are on their way too!