'Fired Up'-Ceramics and Meaning at Gallery Oldham 10/08/10
We were a small group from Henshaws working as a focal group for the gallery to enable them to present their exhibitions to the visually impaired, specifically to meet their needs.
The morning started with a question and answer session hosted by Dinah Winch, Senior Curator, so that she could ascertain how we felt about art and what was presented to us.
After a short discussion we went upstairs to the 'Fired Up' exhibition. We first looked at pottery by Stephen Dixon. The first item we looked at was a circular fortress constructed with small houses slotted together which were presented on the inside, with the outside portraying figures of men wounded in battle and various items of warfare all indicating the horrors of combat. The inside represented safety offered by the houses prior to conflict.
The next item was an oilcan with numerous symbolic figures and items with the text 'Their Finest Hour' and which was his interpretation of the war for oil in the Middle East.
There were so many illustrations of what you might see in a war zone that it took a long time to try to identify them all. As an aid to our visual impairment; much smaller pieces had been devised for us to handle so that we could get an idea of what this item actually looked like.
We then moved on to exhibits by Claudia Clare who had created huge potbellied coiled vases. These were enormous and we discussed the engineering difficulties she must have in building such items without collapse. The vases depicted scenes from Iran focusing on women's emancipation in this area of the world, and their struggle to live the type of life to which they aspire. There was very complex story-telling on these huge pots and were like something I had never seen before.
After this section we had a look at an item by Paul Scott who is renowned for working with blue and white porcelain. He had taken an existing cup and saucer and carried out his own makeover to what he must have felt was a blank canvas. We know that it was an existing cup and saucer because there was a tiny chip in the rim of the cup which had been gilded over by him during his work. I was unable to see the actual detail myself but from the description given to us by Dinah and Mary we learnt that the base of the cup contained a cockle shell and the blue border on the outside edge of the cup and saucer gave an illusion of water moving. Within the water border there were tiny cockle shells and on the rim of the cup were tiny figures of Negro slave. This cup and saucer was Paul Scott's interpretation of slavery both past and present and reminded us poignantly of the Morecambe Bay disaster, where many Chinese were drowned whilst working for their slave masters in this country.
We all went back downstairs to the Education Suite and had the opportunity to handle some other items of pottery; one of which was a large jug without a handle by Alison Britton. Another, a beautiful coiled Nigerian pot by Ladi Kwali. A jug with a complex tree branch handle by Walter Keeler and a tiny little item about 4 inches tall and quite flat which looked like a jug.
At this stage of the day Dinah and her colleagues cleared the table and served us a most delightful selection of sandwiches and biscuits together with tea, coffee and orange juice.
After lunch we all had the opportunity, under the direction and assistance of Glenys Walsh, to make our own tile using air dried clay so it wasn't too messy. We rolled out a chunk of clay until it was large enough to allow us to cut out a tile using a template and we then used items from the table to create an imprint pattern on our own tile. We had a good laugh, a lot of mishaps, and a scrummage to get the best items to use! A very nice roundup to our superb day at the gallery.
My thanks to Hilary for looking after me and guiding me throughout the visit, and the whole group's thanks to Dinah and Glenys for the extra mile they went to make our trip as enjoyable and memorable as possible. Thanks to Mary for choosing me to join this focus group and we all hope that the feedback we give will help the curators to continue their excellent delivery of special projects for disabled at their gallery.
The morning started with a question and answer session hosted by Dinah Winch, Senior Curator, so that she could ascertain how we felt about art and what was presented to us.
After a short discussion we went upstairs to the 'Fired Up' exhibition. We first looked at pottery by Stephen Dixon. The first item we looked at was a circular fortress constructed with small houses slotted together which were presented on the inside, with the outside portraying figures of men wounded in battle and various items of warfare all indicating the horrors of combat. The inside represented safety offered by the houses prior to conflict.
The next item was an oilcan with numerous symbolic figures and items with the text 'Their Finest Hour' and which was his interpretation of the war for oil in the Middle East.
There were so many illustrations of what you might see in a war zone that it took a long time to try to identify them all. As an aid to our visual impairment; much smaller pieces had been devised for us to handle so that we could get an idea of what this item actually looked like.
We then moved on to exhibits by Claudia Clare who had created huge potbellied coiled vases. These were enormous and we discussed the engineering difficulties she must have in building such items without collapse. The vases depicted scenes from Iran focusing on women's emancipation in this area of the world, and their struggle to live the type of life to which they aspire. There was very complex story-telling on these huge pots and were like something I had never seen before.
After this section we had a look at an item by Paul Scott who is renowned for working with blue and white porcelain. He had taken an existing cup and saucer and carried out his own makeover to what he must have felt was a blank canvas. We know that it was an existing cup and saucer because there was a tiny chip in the rim of the cup which had been gilded over by him during his work. I was unable to see the actual detail myself but from the description given to us by Dinah and Mary we learnt that the base of the cup contained a cockle shell and the blue border on the outside edge of the cup and saucer gave an illusion of water moving. Within the water border there were tiny cockle shells and on the rim of the cup were tiny figures of Negro slave. This cup and saucer was Paul Scott's interpretation of slavery both past and present and reminded us poignantly of the Morecambe Bay disaster, where many Chinese were drowned whilst working for their slave masters in this country.
We all went back downstairs to the Education Suite and had the opportunity to handle some other items of pottery; one of which was a large jug without a handle by Alison Britton. Another, a beautiful coiled Nigerian pot by Ladi Kwali. A jug with a complex tree branch handle by Walter Keeler and a tiny little item about 4 inches tall and quite flat which looked like a jug.
At this stage of the day Dinah and her colleagues cleared the table and served us a most delightful selection of sandwiches and biscuits together with tea, coffee and orange juice.
After lunch we all had the opportunity, under the direction and assistance of Glenys Walsh, to make our own tile using air dried clay so it wasn't too messy. We rolled out a chunk of clay until it was large enough to allow us to cut out a tile using a template and we then used items from the table to create an imprint pattern on our own tile. We had a good laugh, a lot of mishaps, and a scrummage to get the best items to use! A very nice roundup to our superb day at the gallery.
My thanks to Hilary for looking after me and guiding me throughout the visit, and the whole group's thanks to Dinah and Glenys for the extra mile they went to make our trip as enjoyable and memorable as possible. Thanks to Mary for choosing me to join this focus group and we all hope that the feedback we give will help the curators to continue their excellent delivery of special projects for disabled at their gallery.
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