222 Grips for a Stone - the trauma of an object

For many the familiar presence of things is a comfort. Things are valued not only because of their rarity of cost or their historical aura, but because they seem to partake in our lives; they are domesticated, part of our routine and so of us. Their long association with us seems to make them custodians of our memories. Yet this does not mean that things reveal themselves, only our investments in them.   

Peter Schwenger.

Not only does our human existence articulate that of an object through the language of our perceptions, but the object calls out that language from us, and with it our own sense of embodied experience.

This would imply that we as humans project upon objects the experiences of human emotions and qualities, yet at the same time things reveal to us to ourselves in profound and unexpected ways.

My explorations rely on the historical, social and political associations we place upon objects when I create my assemblages. I challenge our associations by placing objects under extreme duress, often subjecting them to immense forces which transforms the nature of the object and consequently our understanding of it.

I am not interested simply in the destruction of materials, but more about their resurrection and transformation.

These everyday objects comfort us through their familiarity, yet there is a tension between the two versions of the object: that of its known past as a familiar functional object (by association) to its current state which bears the scars of the trauma it has been subjected.

The progression of images shows the working process I am currently employing in the studio. Ceramic 'stones' are found, and then 'gripped' or contained by the steel wire woven into basket forms. 

Combining broken glass, and a shino glaze, the object is then fired to Cone 6 in a reduction atmosphere kiln. The results culminate in a glaze that has surface cracks, the wire becomes brittle and sinks into the glaze in places. The broken glass pieces mix with the glaze and run off the object before solidifying again. 

222 Grips for a Stone - Handles

Continuing my exploration into 222 Grips for a Stone, I thought it would be fun to literally take the idea of putting 'grips on stone'.

Working with found lumps of clay, I attached handles generally used in kitchens to create references to domestic landscapes attached to the stone. 

I liked the idea that this one references a chest of drawers.

222 Grips for a Stone
#52

Previously, the metal I had put in the kiln and fired to cone 08 was steel, and the result was that it oxidised and blackened. However with aluminium handles, the metal completely burns away, leaving a residue similar to shaving cream. 

222 Grips for a Stone
#53

Also, because I am using large blocks of clay, occasionally they explode in the kiln, leaving behind an interesting assortment of rubble (as in the image above).

222 Grips for a Stone
#55

I really enjoyed the imagery of attaching handles along the 'ridge' of a block of clay, and it immediately brought to mind the nursery rhyme Mis Marry Mack. 

Miss Mary Mack Mack MackAll dressed in black, black, blackWith silver buttons, buttons, buttonsAll down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, motherFor 50 cents, cents, centsTo see the elephants, elephants, elephantsJump over the fence, fence, fence.
They jumped so high, high, highThey reached the sky, sky, skyAnd they didn't come back, back, back'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly!

222 Grips for a Stone
#56

Unfortunately, these two pieces were destroyed in the firing, and I now know to attach aluminium handles afterwards.

I find it interesting that my work continues to reference  post colonialism, domesticity and feminism, even whilst I am exploring the new theme of '222 grips for a stone' and limiting my materials to found objects.

222 Grips for a Stone (22-26) Handles

Further musings on the found object which is continued from last week where I was pondering on the readymade which resulted in the assemblages below .....

#25 of 222 Grips for a Stone detail

#25 of 222 Grips for a Stone

The clay object in the image above bares marks of its function and use and traces of the lives who have handled it. Finger prints of unknown people have left their trace, embedded and imprinted on the earthenware clay. The latch too, shows traces of wear. Green discolouration on the brass suggests the age of the object because it has acquired a patina of time. The rusty water marks show that it has been exposed to the damp with other iron objects, and it possibly was immersed in water for a prolonged period for the rust marks to be transferred onto the brass. 

The objects have become endowed with interiority and a memory, things become stories of people, work and lives (Frow 273). 

These traces allude to the presence of absence. The finger prints point to an absence of the people who made, handled and shaped the clay. The patina on the latch suggests the once presence of water and dampness. Both contain a sense of geological and human time.  

#23 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#24 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#26 of 222 Grips for a Stone

Whilst the works in these images are not finished (the clay needs to be fired, the handles attached, and ideally I would like to suspend them from the ceiling)  it gives you the idea of what I am working on at the moment.

View from my studio

We have been experiencing some delightful autumn weather, and I captured the quintessential Haligonian view from my studio:  cruise ship, tug, and a transport carrier of some description.

Frow, J. A Pebble, a Camera, A Man Who Turns into a Telegraph Pole, Critical Inquiry Vol. 28, No. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Journals, Autumn 2001)