Evaluation

At the beginning of my project I was interested in the microscopic, unseen world of the ocean - organisms, algae, plankton, and microplastics. I wanted to explore the effects of the human lifestyle on aquatic lifeforms and gain an appreciation for the smaller creatures that are integral to the ocean ecosystems. To gather some primary research, I visited several beaches while away in Cornwall; here I collected small fragments of plastic as well as samples of sand, which I later viewed under the microscope. Interestingly, most of the sand was made of the remains of shells and other structures made by small creatures, like tiny relics of life. I’m happy that I did this because I got some really interesting photos through the microscope that reveal shapes and colours that we would not normally notice, plus the circular framing creates an extra-terrestrial effect like planets and moons. The close-ups of the plastics on the other hand are arguably much less beautiful - you can see the way they are degrading, turning brittle and faded, and it’s disturbing to know that other pieces of them are still floating around across the vast expanse of the ocean and being ingested by animals. 

 

Mandy Barker is the artist who influenced me the most at this stage of my research and development. Discovering her work helped me understand and visualise the sheer scale of this crisis and makes me wonder about how much I have contributed to marine plastic pollution - even though I haven’t personally been dumping it into the sea, it has probably still found its way there as I found through a GreenPeace video that in the UK our rubbish is being sent away to poorer countries where it is dumped on the land, swept away by rivers and into the sea, in colossal quantities. Barker's work was the basis of this presentation I did showing my work so far, where I scattered my small ceramic test pieces all over the board and displayed my collected plastic alongside it. Nerikomi was a difficult process to learn but I think I was able to generate some intriguing pieces that had a kind of biological appearance like abstractions of cells, small organisms or cross-sections of organic forms. During this process, I ended up with various pieces of surplus coloured porcelain which I rolled out creating swirly fluid patterns that reminded me of pollution, and this is something I re-visited later on. 

At this point I think I started to run out of inspiration to continue doing such small-scale pieces and I wanted to make something more substantial. By chance I had bought a carton of juice and as I held it in my hand I thought about how it felt and the shape itself had something really satisfying about it; I also considered how it is a single use object, a product of consumerism, and that it may become part of the marine plastic pollution problem one day whether I send it to be recycled or not - because the government seems to be lying about where our rubbish goes. I took my carton to ceramics and James helped me make a mould right away, but it took several days. Thankfully it was still early on in the project so we didn’t have to rush, and I think this is something I’ve learned over the course of the last couple of years, that it’s best to start ceramics as early as possible because everything takes longer than you imagine. For several weeks I worked on making cast cartons, initially using porcelain which I found too unreliable as most of my porcelain cartons either broke coming out of the mould or later on in the kiln. I liked how the use of ceramics changed the value of the carton; it goes from a functional, disposable piece of packaging to something permanent and of higher status and significance. The clays I used, porcelain and earthenware, fire a clean white colour and this along with the fact that there is no information on the carton like the original, suggests a clean slate and sense of purity; they are featureless so the emphasis shifts to the actual shape, a physical, sculptural form, rather than a piece of marketing. Compared with my first pieces with the nerikomi technique, the cartons have a much cleaner, crisp finish; I think they’re assertive and have more presence, so I’m happy I decided to change direction as it felt like a bit of a risk at first. I looked at other artists who use or recreate ready-mades, including Tony Cragg, Marcel Duchamp and Bill Culbert, who helped me envision the outcome of my cartons; looking at their work gave me an idea of how ordinary objects can be creatively harnessed in a transformative way that captivates audiences, and that there are all kinds of ways to display them, whether through their arrangement or use of lighting, that can elevate the work. I’ve played with different layouts but I also have to factor in the safety of the work because they are fragile, easy to knock over and have an attractiveness that makes people feel invited to pick them up.  At the Erewash Museum, I selected my most successful cartons and arranged them in a row inside a large glass cabinet with various other students’ work. I think this worked well as a group of five, it was symmetrical and easy to read as your eyes follow the line from left to right, however I have a larger number of cartons all together and to place them in a row would require a shelf, which I would worry about them being knocked off and broken. Initially I wanted to have them stacked on a metal shop shelf as if waiting to be bought, like a mass produced consumer product, because it would be a strong reference to my general idea. Again the issue with this is the safety of the pieces. We have found a vertical glass cabinet with 3 shelves so I will need to try arranging them in different ways inside but it may be slightly limited due to the narrow width and small footprint. I’ve compared arranging them in an orderly way versus a more random way and I think there is more intrigue when they look less organised. I noted that it had the appearance of a dystopian city-scape with fallen buildings and this allowed me to incorporate my broken pieces in a way that didn’t take away from the successful ones and still fit with the message.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about this project is trying different glazes and that ‘moment of truth’ when they come out of the kiln looking entirely different. I debated whether to use artificial looking colours to mirror the original packaging and the fragments of plastic that I found on the beach, versus more organic colours that would bring in the elements of nature that I’m interested in, and since the cartons are already a man-made object I don’t know how else I would include that aspect of the theme. The cold blues, greys and greens are subtle allusions to the aquatic world and the cartons are partially dipped, creating a ‘horizon’ line that I also described as a representation of fullness or emptiness, and our excessive consumption of Earth's resources. Netflix’s ‘Seaspiracy’ was a reference point for me in discovering how consumer industries are driving a corrupt capitalist assault on the sea but how exposing this in a brutal and honest way is key in making people change their behaviour.

Earlier I mentioned that my coloured porcelain pieces reminded me of pollution, and this is where I brought that back into my work. I experimented with swirling stained slip into the body slip and pouring it into the mould creating a marbled effect. I tried black and later blue. I found the black and white ones most successful because of the connotations; I thought about ocean oil spills as well as mould and decay which I likened to governmental corruption. Seeing the news of another oil spill in the sea is always upsetting because it seems so careless that this mistake is so often repeated and it has such devastating effects. Seeing my juice cartons covered in a swirling black pattern combines both the issues of litter and oil spills in one piece, reflecting on the man made crises that the ocean faces.

Overall I feel happy with this project because I have made a collection of cartons that have both aesthetic and meaningful values. It's a shame that they took up so much of my time because I would have liked to do some other practical work like drawing, and go into more detail with my research, so I think I'll divide my time differently for my next project. I've had positive reactions from my peers and the words generally used to describe them are 'so cool'. I think that the cartons have a certain marketability that I might be able to take advantage of in the future and sell them as sculptural pieces. People have also commented on the level of detail in them and shown intrigue as to how I did it, particularly the inverted in parts of the carton and the ridges of the lid, and I like the idea of audiences being perplexed by my work and showing an appreciation for the skills used.