Through delving further into the theory of the Sublime, I’ve become increasingly more interested in the painter William Turner and his interest in representing the Landscape Sublime. Moving away from the human focussed theatricality, popular amongst 17th Century painters towards more detailed landscape studies focussed particularly on the sky. This has also sparked an interest in the Welsh painter Kyffin William (1918-2006) whose landscape painting are heavily textured with oil paints on canvas. This has got me thinking about how I can use clay in a more textured way to evoke feelings associated with the sublime. At the same time, experimenting with slip colours to replicate the composition associated with location of the Swale.
Below is an example of a piece of work where application of clay and glaze was central to the vessel. Although I am unhappy with the vessel shapes, there is certainly something expressive and dramatic in the encrustation itself.
It was easier for me to work on larger vessels to experiment so I threw 2 vessels using simple shapes inspired by the sturdy mechanical shapes found on board my dad’s boat in the form of rope pulleys and posts. Although the outcomes are somewhat ugly and not neatly crafted in the conventional way on a throwing wheel, I was surprised by the beauty in the texture of the wet clay and how when thrown on the vessel whilst it’s moving on the wheel the clay slops create greater dynamicity and drama and draw more interest. The human eye tries to figure out what this might represent, maybe rock, froth or mountain peaks.
I also experimented with different coloured slips and ways of application, through using a sponge, brush strokes and brush dabbing as well as splatting the slip straight on. Once fired, and then glazed with transparent slip, I’m hoping that the colours appear more vibrant and a bit closer to the composition of the sublime associated with Turner and Williams.
I also threw 4 further larger vessels and 3 smaller test pots. With the small test posts, I’ve continued to experiment with texture but now also starting to play with carving and removing clay rather than just application.
I’m still not sure quite how to apply/ carve the larger vessels but I’ve been please with the progress so far of the tester pot. I’m interested in the way shadows and shapes created by the depth of carving start to create the illusion of mountain landscapes. I’d be interested to see how I can develop this further and start to use the stimulus gathered from visiting the Swale may influences the textures created.
Moving on from this, I’d like to experiment a bit more with application of different clay and the found objects collected on my trips to the Swale. Next week I ‘m hoping to experiment with applying porcelain/ stoneware clay to see how these textures can change meaning and interpretation.