1. Jenny Beavan is a Cornish artist whose project ‘Cores’ at The Eden Project. I find inspirational. “At the gateway to the Wild Cornwall installation you’ll see clay totems punctuating the landscape like silver birches.” Created by Jenny, they’re made from a mix of clays, turning from dark to light at the tips, and are impressed with seeds, unfurling ferns and flowers collected from Eden. In Jenny’s words, “Cores tell the true story of time, material and the place beneath our feet.”
Jenny is “interested in movement in relation to natural change, as seen in changed states of matter; decay, disintegration, relocation and reformation…The intention in my work is always to capture a moment in the process of change, to reflect both the physical and spiritual quality of place.”
This artist's work strikes a chord with me as I too am interested in changes in the natural world.
2. Elaine Bolt
“A cluster of 1.5m tall architectural stoneware trees, branches, fiercely pollarded, threads down from the bank to a gently flowing river. These skeletal, stark white forms…are the work of ceramic artist Elaine Bolt.” (Ceramic Review, issue 301)
Elaine admits that the project pushed her outside of her comfort zone. This was a new venture for her and involved up-scaling her existing techniques and investigating new building methods.
Her background, like mine is in throwing. When asked by a tutor what would happen if she was banned from throwing, she replied that it would probably stop her from making altogether as she felt that her handbuilding was too childlike and too naïve. This statement completely echoes my own feelings of inadequacy when it comes to handbuilding. Like Bolt, I need to take the plunge and embrace change! I also admire the way the artist works with mixed media and found objects alongside thrown vessels and her collaboration with other artists, a basket weaver and a blanket maker.
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