In anticipation of my final formative assessment, I gave my space a much needed clean. My grandfather always said that a ‘messy room equals a messy mind’, and I find some truth in this; often once I have lived in a messy space, and then get my act together and tidy it, I feel a lot more clear-headed. As I arranged my work, I began to see connections between each piece, and how one has informed another, until the present day. There is a clear progression here, and the ceramics that I am crafting seem to be the pinnacle of everything up until this point. As we spoke about the work that I have been making, certain interesting points were brought up; the texture of the porcelain as skin, as a means of illustrating the concept of the ceramic as a vessel, or an aspect of the body. The use of lasers and technology, often used to find and treat the cancerous cells within the body, have been used instead to etch out, or even imbue, the porcelain with a tumour. This idea of ‘implanting’ the tumour back into the form is very interesting, and seems to be an interesting nod to my own attempts at coming to terms with the disease, and the death it causes. By forcing myself to confront these objects of fear, of death, I hope to find an inner peace with them; and certainly, this process of creation makes me feel a great deal better. I make art to exorcise my inner demons, and when a series of work such as this comes around, that I am really proud of, I cannot help but feel proud of how far i’ve come. A focal point of the tutorial was my incessant urge to keep piling concepts on to a piece, until it collapses under it’s own weight; I ‘drown it in the conceptual bath’, so to speak. This is a recurring issue in my work, and Davida prompted me to step back and think about hat I was doing, an ambiguity in work, whether inherent or imposed, certainly aids the piece, as it allows the viewer to interpret it in a variety of differing ways. This idea of etherealness; it requires an aspect of mystery to come to full fruition, and if I keep going until I come first circle, then I begin where I started; showing no development at all. Realising this, I will endeavour to work into what I already have, as a means of pushing it as far as it can go; rather than crafting something new and forgetting about it.
Rumination. 