GRIDS: SCREENS, MIRRORS AND WINDOWS

and Wood H26cm D3.5cm W33cm Reflections of Connectivity and Solitude - 2021 -Tin Plate , Steel Wire

‘By virtue of the grid, the given work of art is presented as a mere fragment, a tiny piece arbitrarily cropped from an infinitely larger fabric. Thus the grid operates from the work of art outward, compelling our acknowledgement of a world beyond the frame.’ 2 - Krauss

In the making of this work, Garden From The Past, I contemplate the archaeological practice of carefully revealing an artefact, dusting and scrapping away layers of mud. Some of my methods may be more readily associated with traditions of sculpture and painting but I am drawn back to ceramic through a process of excavation - materiality linking the object to the artefact that inspired its creation. In this case the cuneiform tablet has informed many of my decisions.

This cuneiform clay fragment acts as a vehicle for communication its imprinted surface holding the messages of the earliest writing system.

The grid appears throughout my practice, used initially when thinking about the built environment and architectural structure. However, the grid has also taken on new meaning when thinking about our confinement over the past year. The grid exists as a framing device in the context of painting or window within architecture providing a view beyond the immediate spaces we live in.

North Norfolk, during a sea fret.

A fret or haar, is a still low fog from the sea that can sit inland for days, obscuring views usually visible; you can only see the immediate space in front of you - I could clearly hear the waves on the shore but because of the fret I could not see them.

“We might say that this capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience is, in fact, exemplified by the souvenir. The souvenir distinguishes experiences. We do not need or desire souvenirs of events that are repeatable. Rather we need and desire souvenirs of events that are reportable, events whose materiality has escaped us.”3 – Stewart

In this case my photograph is the souvenir but it lacks tactility and materiality. Over the past year I have had a longing for this place and the expansiveness of the space that it offers. The Mind’s-Eye Window , a porcelain work of five panels, explores, through relief and brush mark, a sense of holding on to the ephemeral - a fossilisation of memory. A suggestion of touch is implied through the textured surface and minimal white, perhaps even alluding to a sense of physically touching the place where the memory was born and in this way the work operates as a token of place, a fabricated souvenir imbued with longing.

Below: The Minds-Eye Window - 2021 - Porcelain - H19cm W123cm D1.5cm Right: Detail - Panel three -The Minds-Eye Window - 2021 - Porcelain - H19cm W23cm D1.5cm

“Memories are crafted by oblivion as the outlines of the shore are created by the sea.”4 - Augé