UCLAY Exhibition

I briefly mentioned in my last post about the MA Ceramic graduates having an exhibition. This idea first came about when the were exhibiting their degree show and realising that due to the numbers graduating on all the design courses that they would only have a small exhibition space. So they organised to have their own show and invited previous past gradates to join in and invited my year to exhibit. However due to the fact that we are all still developing our work and do not have any finished pieces (certainly not enough to put in a show) it was decided to have a work in progress section on the second floor.

I had managed to get a glaze firing in on time to hopefully have something to show. I also decided to show the stages of firing with my thrown work. Therefor I had a green ware piece, bisque fired piece, a glazed but unfired piece and finally a glaze fired finish piece. 50% of my work is based on glaze developments so I also put in my glaze test blend tiles and small glaze test pots along with samples of different glazes. I also laid out tools and my glazing note book.

I was pleased with my display, it was very much a work in progress display which is what I wanted. I also had to write an artist statement for the first time. This is something that I need more practice in as hopefully I will be writing a lot more of these in years to come!

This is what I wrote:-

Cath Criscenti
MA Ceramics current student – graduating 2019

‘COLOURS OF THE SEASON – AUTUMN’

I am fascinated with the transformation occurring when throwing a ball of clay on the wheel. I love how the clay is pulled and stretched from a malleable state into a form which after firing is ridged and fragile.
I am driven to make elegant, simplistic, wheel thrown forms and decorate them with various combinations of glazes that I developed myself. I am inspired by the natural world around me, especially the colours that occur with the changing of the seasons. I work to recreate these colours and produce groupings of vessels that represent each season.

This small collection on display represents my “Autumn” range.