Making Mugs...

I decided to make a simple mug to showcase the imagery I'd come up with...

The handle i decided to model around the shape of Mrs. Hunts glasses which have great personality...

Vintage horn-rimmed glasses similar to the style Gertrude Hunt wore

Playing with imagery...

My sketch of Suzanne Botterell from Leech's painting

Using silhouettes and emphasising the visible brush-strokes
 from the painting led to some nice images

Looking at the images of Mrs Hunt and her style...
strings of pearls, her horn-rimmed glasses...

Also picking interesting patterns from her clothing...

Some sketches of Mr. Hunt...

Images of the drawers and cabinets like those in which the collection are displayed...

The beginnings of putting the images together...

"Souvenir"-The Hunt Museum Project

For this assignment we were to investigate the Hunt Museum with the idea of a "souvenir" an mind...
I found that for me the Hunt Museum experience was about more than just the various quirky objects in the collection, it was also an insight into how the Hunt family themselves lived; surrounded by beautiful, interesting objects in their own home...

Mr. and Mrs. John and Gertrude Hunt

John Hunt at the site of an archaeological dig
, the likes of which the whole family became involved in.

Mrs. Hunt in her trademark horn rimmed glasses, also wearing some of the museums
jewellry collection: pearls and a 'Pegasus' brooch 

The Hunt Family

 Photographs of the Hunts are found throughout the museum, and the layout of the building itself combined with the display of the collection gives the place a homely, inviting sense...for example some of the artefacts are displayed in drawers...it gives the viewer the feeling of poking through the family's drawers!

Also certain pieces from the collection stood out to me...

'Plat del Dia'  by Pablo Picasso

Picasso's 'Plat del Dia' menu card for the 4 Cats restaurant...
William Leeches' portrait of the young Suzanne Botterell...
I imagine they too would have been like characters in the family...

Portrait of the young Suzanne Botterell
by William Leech

Personal Research Project: Based on Frances Priest

I chose Scottish Ceramicist Frances Priest for this project as i really like her work and wanted to find out about the processes she uses in her collection ‘Objects of Touch and Travel’...

Process:

These objects are made to be held, all fitting comfortably in the human hand. Drawing is a very important part of Priests’ work, throughout the development stage and also in the actual making of the clay form where she spends hours incising her patterns by hand. These patterns are then inlaid with clay oxide colours after bisque firing and then sanded back. Priest finally paints glaze onto the coloured areas to highlight and enrich them with the final firing. This creates a richly textured surface...tangible pattern.

Inspiration:

Priest is inviting us to hold and interact with these objects to experience them fully by actually feeling the pattern.  Inspiration for this collection sprung from time Priest spent abroad teaching disadvantaged children, some refugees, in an international school in Thailand. Projects involved the children making patterns which Priest realised were very specific to each child’s heritage and culture. This realisation, along with over 4,000 photographs from her travels in Thailand and the surrounding countries, led her to exploring how we all interact with pattern on a day to day basis.

My version:

Here are some test tiles and a bean or pebble-like form with incised pattern. 

I liked the circles on the test tile made by tracing around a 2c coin with a scalpel...

More photos to come of  the following stages. 

These will be finished and bisqued before being 

inlaid with clay oxides, bisqued again and finally glazed.

The Final Pieces...

For my final plate i decided to increase the scale...

  

I liked the coral satin glaze i tried during tests and decided to use this on the final piece. I used a strong coral colour along with a lighter mixture and a plain white satin to achieve a gradient of colour over the pieces when sprayed on.


Left: The final place setting ready for glaze firing to 1260 degrees.

The Implement...

For the implement i wanted something simple... maybe with the idea of blowing bubbles...

I came up with a few different solutions....

Ones similar to what children use to blow bubbles...

Some like streams of bubbles as they are being blown...

They ended up being stirring or spoon like implements...

Glazing...Round Two!

Using a white satin glaze with added colour was far more successful...

Using the spray booth to apply the glaze while blending colours at different angles created a nice effect similar to my original sketchbook ideas...