FIRING THOUGHTS: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CERAMICS AND DRAWING

摘要

Drawing is the most fundamental of creative acts. Perhaps because of this it is often the most hidden. As a means to an end, process rather than product, sketches and drawings rarely see the light of day. Yet a well-used sketchbook is such a potent, magical thing - an endless exploration of ideas that gives a privileged glimpse into the mind of the maker. Firing Thoughts brought together sketchbooks, diagrams, back-of-envelope doodles, large-scale paintings and drawings alongside finished ceramics, in an exploration of the relationship between work in two and three dimensions. The exhibition was organised by different relationships: drawing as information recording, drawing as problem solving, drawing as creative expression. Within these categories a wealth of approaches to making work was revealed. The surprisingly perfunctory annotated sketches of Lucie Rie (in contrast to the delicate sgraffito bowl displayed) were shown alongside Alex McErlain's fantastically detailed kiln diagrams and Steve Dixon's highly personal sketchbook diaries, a mass of overlaid images culled from every imaginable source. The obsessive working and reworking of a handle detail by Walter Keeler, humming with energy and purpose, was seen alongside the wonderfully expressive and vividly coloured studies of animals and vegetables by Sue Halls. Rob Kesseler's explorations of electron microscope imagery represented the new design opportunities afforded by digital technology.