British Ceramic Biennial-Stick Up!

As part of the British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent’s AirSpace Gallery will be collaborating with London-based studio group Manifold, whose particular focus is Ceramics. AirSpace Gallery and its studio artists work within a contemporary art context working different medium. The intention is to instigate an element of risk for both the artists and curators. As both sets are removedfrom their individual comfort zones and work towards a challenging resolution.

The two studio groups will be collaborating to make a body of works within a restricted time period. The focus of the project is the exchange between two types of working methods, skill sets and knowledge. The outcome of these investigations is unpredictable and will develop organically over an intensive three-day period leading up to the opening of the exhibition, which explores a newfound relationship between Ceramics and Contemporary Art.

AirSpace Gallery Artists:

Bejhat Omar Abdulla, David Bethell, Andrew Branscombe, Anna Francis, Janine Goldsworthy, Phil Rawle, Katie Shipley.

Manifold Studio Artists:

Zachary Eastwood-Bloom, Ellie Doney, Amy Hughes, Sun-Ae Kim, Hanne Mannheimer, Matthew Raw, Bethan Lloyd Worthington.

 

Stick-Up: an exhibition of collaborative projects by AirSpaceGallery Studio Artists (Stoke-on-Trent) and Manifold Studio Artists (London). Exploring the intersections and counterpoints between conceptual fine art and ceramic prac-tices. 

All the work in this show has been developed during an intense three days of 
experimentation and investigation, in which the artists have discovered a new-found 
relationship between Ceramics and Contemporary Art. 

Reclaimed City: Janine Goldsworthy & Amy Jayne Hughes working without vision of a 
final outcome the collaboration took on a playful and experimental approach. Focus was 
placed on the process, conversations and enjoyable combinations, using different 
elements to make interesting visual consequences. It was important to use materials that 
had a connection to the local area, borrowed largely from businesses that developed out 
of a derelict environment that is now in the process of regenera-tion. The methods of 
working included sharing of skills and ideas as a departure from our normal artist 
practices by embracing the unpredictable and pushing limitations in unplanned creative 
constructions. The resultant artwork welcomed the transforma-tions of material and 
physical values. Components kindly donated by L & M Eurotrading LTD and PVR Scrap 
yard, Burslem. 

Reliquary: Bethan Lloyd-Worthington & Anna Francis Starting at the end. View the 
Project Blog. This is a reliquary constructed of engineering bricks. It was created to 
house relics excavated from the former ABC Cinema site next door. The relics were 
cleaned, examined and documented. They were then placed within the reliquary during 
building, in order of importance (most best to least best). Each one was marked on the 
exterior in chalk. The mark’s position indicates height and orientation. The first number is 
the number of the relic; the second is the depth, with the exception of No. 13, which was 
dispersed by smashing. Fairly quickly, at the beginning of this project, we identified two 
main areas of difference within our practices – Notions of permanency/ephemera in 
terms of materials and public/private processes of making. Gradually, we converged. 
When our conversation moved towards examining our homes and the things we 
surround ourselves with, rather than our work, we found common ground. Collaboration 

Wall of Secrets: Phil Rawle & Ellie Doney. We began by getting interested in clay’s 
ability to preserve and immortalise gestures, moments in time, fingerprints – the hand of 
the maker. The conversation turned to archaeological findings, and roman objects that 
Phil had seen, with inscriptions on them that turned out to be curses on neighbours, or 
invitations to a birthday party. We began looking at pictogram clay tablets in Sumerian 
cunei-form and Egyptian hieroglyphics, secret coded messages. We recognised that 
some of these mysterious tablets were actually quite mundane in content, the equivalent 
of status updates or tweets, perhaps a shopping list. What might people write in a coded 
inscription today? What are our contemporary secrets? A secret can be personal, or 
about someone else. A confession, something untold, something hidden, or something 
newly discovered. Inscribing one on a tablet in personal code may be a way of releasing 
it, or examining why it is a secret. Inscribing into clay realises them permanently, 
perhaps to be found years later. We want people to contribute to the piece on-site. We 
would like to provide an intimate space to think about what they want to represent. At the 
old Spode factory in Stoke, we found a simple worktable and lamp used for hand

finishing ceramics, which, when installed in the gallery, calls to mind the scribe’s bench, 
or the monk’s scriptorium. 

Limited Edition: Hanne Mannheimer & Andrew Branscombe Taking inspiration from the 
industrial decay experienced in many of the former potteries around the city the work 
looks at processes and mass production. Inspiration was drawn from the stacks of 
unfinished ware, machinery and individuality found in these sites. The artists first met 
while installing the BCB exhibi-tion at the former Spode factory. They took the 
opportunity to look around the derelict areas of the factory, which helped to form the 
method of working as well as a wealth of raw materials. The factory sites often contain 
equipment and machines unique to a particular process or person. Andrew created 
machines using found materials, which were suggestive in appearance of existing 
processes and equipment. Then without instruction the equipment was given to Hanne 
who intuitively used the creations. Both the tools and clay became flawed, impractical 
and limiting to the way of working, creating a range of mass-produced failures. 

Studies: David Bethell & Sun-Ae Kim. Bethell and Sun-Ae’s work looks at the process in the ceramics industry particularly the value, mark-making and traditional influences used to design ceramics. The work sees the collaboration using drawing and mark making as their primary source, testing symbols and imagery used from different times, including contemporary and 18th century drawings. The initial concept for the studies was to look at courtship, romanticism, history, and the new. This resulted in a series of studies that translated these influences into mark-making and design. This later lead to the work being developed through the value of the object and questioning the current value of ceramics today, against easy and cheap materials such as paper plates and cups. The use of paper plates and cups also acted as maquettes for the potential development of the works into more refined designs. 
Urban Decay: Behjat Omer Abdulla & Zacharay Eastwood-Bloom. For 'Urban Decay' 
Zachary Eastwood-Bloom and Bahjat Omer Abdulla have made a series of urn shaped 
raw clay vessels, filled them up with water and filmed the resulting outcomes. This 
project examines the notions of dependency and erosion with a wider metaphor relating 
to Stoke-on-Trent and the ceramics industry. The water in the vessels is dependent on 
the structural integrity of the clay body to keep it contained, however it slowly weakens 
the material over a period of time resulting in a loss of both vessel and fluid. 
This process is symbolic of the decay of Stoke-on-Trent as a result of the decline in 
industrial ceramic production. A place once heavily dependent on clay but now feeling 
the loss of its core material.

 

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