john.davenport8@btinternet.com
Last events of 2016 now completed, so free to get down to some serious development work. Several new directions are vying for attention, but layers of colour are almost certainly going to play a strong part. Everywhere I look these days I see layers of colour and texture which I would never have noticed a few years ago. Latest example was the Knitting and Stitching Exhibition in Harrogate, where some of the work featured wonderful depictions of abstract forms and textures which I found really exciting.
The piece on the left is an attempt to create a supporting background for a clinging plant (not a streptocarpus like this) to climb into. I was pleased with the overall effect, but the flat panel, fired separately from the square pot below, had too much in-built tension and cracked during the glaze firing.
My response was to break the design up into smaller pieces and then stitch them together after firing. I don’t think I have this right yet, but it is an interesting concept.
This shallow bowl is another exploration of coloured porcelain slips layered over the grogged clay body while leather hard. After the first firing to 1,000 c. I applied a mix of metal oxides then a very thin layer of glaze before the final firing to 1,260 c.
This pot uses the same technique but reverts to my interest in designing pots as partners to pre-selected plants, the aim being to create a single statement, which gradually evolves as the plant develops.
