Glazed cartons

 

My first lot of cartons came out of the kiln this week and they didn't go too well; all of them cracked and the purple one must have had too much glaze because it stuck to the kiln and broke. I do like the 'dove' glaze on the left, it has a natural grainyness and a stone-like texture. The colour itself doesn't particularly convey any messages relating to my theme other than alluding to nature so I need to think more about what I want the glazes to say. The purple colour is reminiscent of the original Tropicana carton that I cast so it reminds me more of litter and plastics, especially as the rubbish I collected on the beach was quite brightly, artificially coloured. 

I think the idea of the artificial is quite strange because everything we have ultimately came from the earth when you trace the origins right back, but the distinction is that things like plastic would not have occurred on their own in nature, so maybe that's how we define 'fakeness'. When you think about man-made being the same as artificial, there is still the argument that humans are indeed part of nature therefore how can it be unnatural- but I think there is a difference between us building shelters to survive the wild like other animals, and constructing buildings out of new materials. It's all a bit paradoxical and it makes me feel kind of lost, maybe these are feelings I can translate into my art. 

An observation I had about these cartons is the difference the ratio of glazed-to-unglazed porcelain makes. For instance I didn't dip the dove one as far into the glaze and I think it looks more effective than the purple one which was dipped much further in because it looks more balanced. The thickness and amount of purple seems to be kind of suffocating the form compared to the other one which feels lighter and more calming to look at. Overall I think it will be best to use the more organic looking glazes for my next ones because I still want to incorporate the iconography of the ocean and natural world in some way; it is also a good way to emphasise the man-madeness of the cartons. 

In the centre is the 'chun clear' glaze which entirely coated the carton. It feels glossy and has a reflective surface, a complete transformation from the original object. In several of my projects I have enjoyed exploring how we can re-imagine ordinary objects in an almost glorified, elevated way, and this project is no exception. Changing the viewers perception on something would make me feel I have made some successful and thought-provoking work; my cartons are an example of how the treatment of materials and processes can totally alter the meaning and language of an object. In this case I am taking a functional, disposable piece of packaging and turning it into something permanent and ornamental, something no longer destined for the bin. Porcelain has a sense of status that card and plastic lack, it has elements of luxury associated with it and a fragility that makes us want to treasure it and handle it like something really important - whenever I have offered people to hold one of my cartons they have always responded with an instinctual sense of fear that they will break it, and this implies the work is percieved as not only delicate but valuable.