Group Dynamics

摘要

In 2004 Maggie Williams, ceramist and course leader in ceramics and Programme Director of Art at Canterbury Christchurch University, Kent, was invited to take a ten-week sabbatical at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary, to explore and develop ideas generated by previous work. Her work in the 1990s and early 2000s combined a strong sense of form with a close attention to detail, all influenced by her background in graphic design. Some shapes were thrown and altered, others handbuilt, all remaining vessel based, the concept developed from organic sources. Gradually, through the natural evolution of continual making, the emphasis shifted; pieces were no longer so much about 'the vessel' but were concerned with the balance of asymmetric forms and the creation of random and free-flowing surfaces in direct contrast to the tight profile of the form. Always interested in the concept that ceramics is a serial aesthetic, Williams started to make forms in pairs and groups that formed a Gestalt in which components interacted to create a whole, and the whole influenced the perception of the individual elements. She became excited by 'the energy of the group' and the developing 'conversation' that arose within it. Moreover, as Williams says, 'space becomes an integral part of the group'. This progression highlighted both the interplay of positive and negative space and emphasised how line and space defined form and created pattern.