Sunny Sunday Sculpture

I've brought my carving bench and sculpture outside this morning and it is so good to be working outdoors, feeling the warmth of the sun on my back, it's energy soaking in - I'm happy at my work!

Wishing you a happy sunny Sunday too.    x

Sculptural Energy is the Mountain

Last night I listened to a talk by Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle's Yard entitled Gaudier-Brzeska: from drawing to sculpture

 Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
Sketch of 'Bird Swallowing a Fish', 1914

 

I found myself scribbling notes as I listened, of things beautifully said or that I agreed with expressed in a new way.

In the end my small scrap of paper was full both sides and in all the gaps with my scribble and I resorted to listening again to the talk.  Kettle's Yard - Live has an archive of all the Thursday Lunchtime talks it gives which are available free through Spreaker.

The talk coincides with the current exhibition, running until 1st April - Henri Gaudier-Brzeska: Vorticist!

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s career as a sculptor was regrettably short. Born in France in 1891, he was killed in action in 1915, aged just 23. Yet in the three and a half years preceding his departure for the trenches he managed to create a remarkable and innovative body of work.

Gaudier moved to London from Paris in early 1911. There he worked alongside prominent figures such as the poet Ezra Pound, the sculptor Jacob Epstein, the painter Wyndham Lewis and the philosopher T.E. Hulme. With them, in 1914, he created Vorticism, Britain’s first avant-garde movement. Through a selection of sculptures and related drawings drawn from the permanent collection at Kettle's Yard, the display explores Gaudier’s Vorticist work, arguably his most significant contribution to the development of modern sculpture.

Andrew spoke vividly about the Gaudia story, of Vorticm and Blast, Ezra Pound, T. E. Hulme, Jim Ede and Savage Messiah and the relevance of all these connections - but right at the start of the talk he asked us to consider this sculpture, Bird Swallowing a Fish, as though we had no prior history or knowledge of Gaudia or his work, and this was simply a new, contemporary work which we were asked to look at.

This connects rather nicely with the Art and Society thinking of Clive Bell (Bloomsbury Group) at the time, 'let everyone be an amateur .. '  we can all respond to art and have a view.  

Work that has a sense of energy (an inner, compressed energy) and life, an intensity and purity, yet a balance, stillness and beyondness, will stand the test of time and have an enduring relevance.

It was good to be reminded of words in the Vorticist Manifesto:

Sculptural Energy is the Mountain
Sculptural Feeling is the Appreciation of Masses in relation
Sculptural Ability is the defining of these masses by Planes

Ceramic Sculpture

Ceramic Art London is due to open its doors next week - February 24th - 26th.  It is the leading fair for contemporary ceramics, held at the Royal College of Art, London.

I love to browse the galleries and individual artists and see all the new and exciting work.  Some defies belief, in not looking like clay at all and others are gorgeous, earthy, functional pots.

Fenella Elms is amazing

Nuala O'Donovan's handbuilt porcelain ceramic sculpture astonishes

 

And an artist whose work appeals is Susan O'Byrne.  Her statement explains rather beautifully.

Our childhoods are filled with animal images, their many names, shapes, colours and patterns fuel our early imaginations. Throughout history animals have also been used in storytelling, legend and folklore to simplify the complexities of adult life. In the same manner, I use the animal form as a vehicle for the expression of human emotions. 

I aim to give my animals a certain awkward vulnerability. This is achieved through a very personal making process. I make a wire framework on to which layers of printed and patterned pieces of porcelain paper clay are applied to form a skin. The natural twists and kinks of the wire frame and the shrinkage of the clay around it during firing are allowed to dictate the posture of the finished animal. The element of chance in these processes is central to my work. 

It seems that I'm drawn to the effects achieved with porcelain, but the gritty, rustic glazes also make my heart beat a bit faster.

 Uwe Loellmann

I was just thinking about what it would be if I found the two combined - a very fine, smooth, paper like clay all mixed up with a course stoneware material.  Then as if by magic I came across Stephanie Quayle  who works with heavily grogged sculptors clays allowing expressive lines and movements, as immediate as drawing, whilst porcelain is pushed to it’s absolute limits. Direct and energetic the earthy clay becomes alive with animal character.  What a Badger!

Goose Eggs

Geese usually lay early in the morning, every other day, starting traditionally on Valentine's Day.

My gang have never laid as early as this before, but today they've obliged - actually my first egg came at the weekend, and a further one today.  What clever girls.   A goose egg is about twice the size of a large hen egg, with a huge, very rich coloured yolk. They are excellent in cooking and I know make a particularly good Bread and Butter Pudding (one of my favourites).   The shells are rather tougher too and you have to be very positive to crack them cleanly on the edge of the bowl.  One goose egg scrambled serves two nicely.

The egg has long been associated with mysterious stories in folklore - in early times in Greece the eating of eggs was banned altogether as it was felt eggs were the ultimate food of fertility and virility given by the Gods to man.  In an area near the Chinese/Indian border, if a woman offered an egg to a man it was considered a proposal of marriage.

Keeping with the belief that eggs were fertility symbols, German farmers in ancient times smeared eggs on their ploughs to ensure fertile fields.  Coloured eggs are considered powerful, and are tossed into the laps of women who want to become pregnant.

The Koreans claim that their first King came from a mysterious red egg that was left by a flying horse.  And there is a Russian proverb:  Love and eggs are best when they are fresh.

Well, mine are, and I couldn't have received a better Valentine's gift.

Winter Hare

 Winter Hare - carved Limestone Hare by Jennifer Tetlow