Self-initiated Project

Updated: Feb 25, 2020

This project is an opportunity to try out ideas that may shape an emerging MA project which will last for six weeks.

My inspiration remains the forest floor around Towneley Hall and its grounds where I spent much of my young life exploring on my grandfather’s smallholding, deerpond and woods. I am drawn to a quiet and ‘secret’ spot in the woods where a fallen silver birch has the power to fascinate me through the seasons as the elements create a constant cycle of decay and renewal. I intend to focus my self-initiated project on the bark of the silver birch tree.

I have closely observed silver birches near my home. Whilst visiting my cousin in the Highlands we spent a few days walking, deer spotting and looking closely at the silver birches there, their textures and colours, some of which seemed unique to that part of the world – dark blues and oranges in particular. Here are the results of playing with a tin tray, some watercolour paints and a trio of metal scrapers from the pound shop!

To begin with, I made a series of test tiles in porcelain and grogged terracotta, applying a variety of slips and oxides.

My first attempt at a birch tree form - attempting to emulate the block-ish shape of the tree. I used a selection of thrown cylinders of differing heights and joined them together. This was a disaster. It turned out to be very basic and over-structured and was destined for the bin.

Following a discussion with Rob, I made a second attempt at a trunk form, closely observing the fragility of a piece of the bark. I made the form with small shards of porcelain, thinly rolled and shaped between my fingers. Moisture management was definitely an issue here!

Small sculptural pieces of stoneware reflecting shards of silver birch bark, decorated with a variety of oxides and slips - some left unglazed, and some finished in a transparent glaze.

Using red crank clay, texture and slips were applied to these tiles. The transparent glaze was applied a little too heavily, turning the surface a somewhat milky, which gave quite a pleasing result. The unglazed underside of the tile was perhaps more interesting in terms of colour and texture.

Porcelain tiles with blue and grey oxides and underglaze colour. Transparent glaze

Finally, I made a series of thrown cylinders in grogged white and grogged red clay then split them down the centre and applied white porcelain slip to all of them. I applied black and grey slip to the white cylinders using strips of newspaper and I applied dark blue and orange slip to the red cylinders using the same technique. These colours were used to mirror the watercolour birch tree paintings. The slip was then scraped away using the same tool as used in the painting (a metal scraper from the pound shop). This revealed in parts the grogged texture of the clay beneath.