New Year- New Adventure

This new year has felt strange, as last year was so diffiuclt, it seemed like after new year everything would reset to how it used to be. And of course that hasnt happened and as a result, new year feels flat and strange. To get myself through January Im being super kind to myself, slowing down and eating lots of veggies and getting myself motivated to restart more exercise. Everything fell to the wayside due to all weekend hospital visits, which are now slowly dwindling as dad is reocverying- which Im so very thankful for and also very tired out from.

Alongside this Ive taken on an artist residency at The Clay Shed, its local and the people are lovely. It's good to be making in a shared space rather than on my own all of the time. Its been quite comforting and reassuring for my ceramic practice. My motivation was to learn more about the ceramic process so I could push it further or in a new direction. Ive learned that despite my fumblings of figuring it out myself, Ive been doing pretty well with the rules of clay work.

Ive been to the Bristol museum to see the ceramic collection and also, as always have taken some inspiration from the local area, graffiti on the walls and also the river avon.

I will be playing with various shapes and builds however the part Im really excited about is the glaze work. Im going to use glazes I already have alongside mud from the avon and also wood ash and quartz sand.

I like the idea of a bright underglaze and some messy muddy home made glaze over it and also using mud on porcelain for the contrast of dirty on delicate. There is a narrative that comes through this materiality of a desire to take on something classic, baroque even, and subvert it . It connects me to british history, but as a working class person, its not my history. Our history does not exist in this way. It's what britain portrays, being rich and being great. And well, Im going to make it messy and cover it in mud.

Today I will enjoy a beautiful self care walk by the river avon to collect some mud. Its actually sunny today.