Ceramic Art Wales - A Showcase

thora50
Aug 11
4 min read

This was the first selling fare that we ( as MA students ) had been to. The aim was to showcase our work and maybe sell something.

A lot of planning went into the stand, with smart covers for the tables and a variety of plinths that we had painted prior to coming. We were told that we would only be taking new work - we all had enough, everyone had pulled out all the stops to get as much new work through the firings as possible. The good thing about sharing a stand and having your work in very close proximity with someone else's, is that the 4 distinctive styles and bodies of work really stood out.

It was a chance to engage with the public, and I must say that the response was almost overwhelming.

Kim and Ruth had small versions of their work - Ruth made some lovely badges. As a Castlefield Associate member now, one of the points raised in a recent zoom meeting was to diversify in your work and make smaller, less expensive items. Can you see another outshoot from your work? My philosophy, if you're making one, make 4! It doesn't proportionally take you much longer, and you have 3 other items for sale.

I was quite pleased with my 'variety' - although Rob would probably say it was too diverse. The main thing that holds my work together is the sgraffito decoration and the theme of endangered animals and the issues surrounding their conservation. I have since tried to pull my work together further in just two families, red earthenware and honey glaze, and white earthenware with coloured slips. Some of my work is confrontational with a short message in printed decals (ceramic transfers). I have more recently introduced carving with linocut tools and think this relates well to sgraffito, which has been an amazing experience. In the past people have commented on how they liked the tactile nature of my sgraffito work, carving with lino tools just enhances this. You need to make sure that the clay/slip is thick enough. I have also used different ways of displaying my work... I have a 'sling' for one piece, another will have a decorated base - a sheet of clay on a plaster slump mould. I have also made a lid to my snow leopard vase, with a snow leopard miniature on top. I really liked my lids in the Box of Secrets assignment which featured the head of my horse, Punch, and a small black cat like my Kitty. This is attempting to make my vessel shapes more interesting.

I have been tempted to try a little bit of gold lustre - but have resisted that temptation, thinking it might be a distraction rather than enhance my work.

@Sallyedmundsonbird has wonderful lidded jars, which she has guilded with gold lustre in places. This adds a new dimension, which Sally ( and a lot of other people!) are obviously very happy with, but I actually preferred the vessels without the gold. I thought they were more 'raw'.

Ruth's work looked really nice on the outside plinths. I was hoping she would have a flash purchase!

Debbie's work shocked people. Some were quite voyeur about it. It does seem to draw in the attention. But some other people when they saw it walked past and were put off engaging with the rest of the work on the stall. I think there could be a market for Debbie's work - which is one of the intended outcomes, after all.

Kim's work was colourful as ever, and I think she was the only person who sold anything. Her construction of her work is very clever and accomplished. A hard subject matter to get across, but I am really liking her latest work, which is still colourful but slightly less busy and easier to see the individual components working together. I like it when she colour-matches her pieces.

A lot of people liked my work. Even the vases with the decals. I gave out a lot of business cards and I think if the priced had been a bit lower I may have sold something. Its hard to judge prices - we had a pricing exercise before we left. I do think that today's economic climate has a lot of influence and it also depends on how urgently you need the money as to whether you lower your price. However in our pricing exercise it was noted that your selling price at shows needs to be the same as you selling price in the galleries. One price for all outlets. If you sell lower elsewhere, some galleries wont stock your work because they know that people can buy it cheaper elsewhere.

I didn't take a lot of time looking at other exhibitors - partly because my legs were quite bad that weekend. But I did try and concentrate on those exhibitors with animal/conservation themes.

I had a longer chat with Jack Durling this time, I had chatted with him at Ceramic Art London. He is going out to see the orangutans in Borneo - this is something I would like to do. I look forward to seeing his work after this.

Sally Howard's work. I don't recall seeing her work before, but like the raw feel.

I also like Justin Jardine's work very much. I was astonished when I saw the price tags - his work is actually very affordable. He also took one of my cards and gave me some advice on which wildlife exhibitions are good ones to apply to. I am now following him @thejardinegallery.