Yesterday, as I sorted and washed marble cubes, I listened to a radio analysis of the novel Silas Marner — George Eliot’s story of a weaver who is unfairly accused of theft. The panel of experts sketched out some of the themes: money, town versus country, loss and gain. The subject of money underlay most [...]
These are the last few days in which to prepare our show ‘Pattern Industry’. We are giving a talk to students at the Slade the day after the show opens. As we make amendments to the paintings, we discuss our practice and try to guess the sort of questions we might be asked. The talk [...]
Made in England was a project in three parts. The first was a mosaic installed in the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke. The second was a series of public workshops. The third was a website documenting the project: www.made-in-england.net As the project depended on public involvement, it was essential that as many people [...]
I remember my first development trip to Stoke. I drove up the M40. Repeatedly listening to the same CD, I’d achieved a meditative high of anticipation and excitement, when the phone rang. It was a Stoke-on-Trent number. ‘Hello duck’ said an unfamiliar voice. ‘Snow is forecast. Best get here early.’ It was the landlady from [...]
Yesterday’s post was the first of a series on Made in England. I explained how I came to use ceramic tableware. Today I am going to look at the content and context of the material, to help to explain what the finished work is about. I’m also going to continue the discussion about the use [...]
Now and then I am going to look at a single piece of work, and explain the thought process behind its making. This week I am going to talk about my project Made in England. It is the first of five posts. I often explain to students that their work is likely to be most [...]
It is after midnight and I am back from my assistant Sandra’s birthday party. In the Holloway Road, outside the University, I saw many young women queueing in the snow, their generous frames bulging from a tiny swaddling of baco-foil coloured fabric. ‘Goodness me, they must be cold!’ I thought, troublingly aware that my thoughts [...]
After Mosaic Summer School this August, I am teaching a five-day course: ‘Marble and Smalti with the Hammer and Hardy.’ The course runs in March too, if anyone thinks they might be interested. Both are at West Dean College, an impressive flint-faced country house in the Sussex downs. Twenty-three years ago I was one of [...]
‘Can I speak to Emma Biggs?’ ‘Speaking.’ ‘Is that THE Emma Biggs?’ This is the hilarious way in which Toby Clarke (our gallerist, and a king amongst men) attempted to check mate me into a humiliating next move, but he didn’t get away with it. I wasn’t going to be made to seem big-headed by [...]
Sandra is back at work alone. I have been painting in the studio next door. She sits cutting and laying her project with only the radio for company. Today she was able to watch the snow for entertainment. To abate my feelings of guilt, I imagine she finds the snow exotic and the lack of [...]