Farewell Mud Colony

Two years ago I was invited by Adriana Christianson to contribute a blog post to the fledgling Mud Colony Community. Little did I know that invitation would result in some highly valued friendships developing.  The photo below shows some of the “mud colonists” outside Zak Chalmer’s, Valley Plains Pottery in Victoria.

l-r Kim Foale Anna-Marie, Truly Southurst, Marian Williams, Sadhana Peterson, Adriana Christianson

The language of clay is the same worldwide, the clay whispers seductively to us, there is a need to make, a compulsion that drives potters onwards, through heartbreak and catastrophe, through tears of frustration and joy. The clay is a demanding mistress and the kiln god is fickle and temperamental. Everything in my life revolves around pots,the line of a hill is the line of a bowl, the wispy cloud in a summer sky is replicated (poorly) in my skydancer series of cups. The escarpments in my landscape, the sacred hidden rockfaces are present in my work.

For me, everything comes back to mud. When I am barefoot in the garden I am centred, when I am elbow deep in clay I am centred, I am elsewhere in my mind even as I am present in the workspace. I work intuitively and I feel the presence of my mother most strongly in my studio which was built from the ashes of her life.

I am not chasing money, as money is not what drives me, perfection is my motivator. I am chasing  my idea of perfection, as I strive to make a better pot that pleases me, only me and I am endlessly surprised that people seem to like my work as well.

In February this year, I sold my share in the Off Centre Cooperative after being a member for three years. Three years of making production work to a monthly schedule taught me a lot about myself and a lot about my craft. It was a good three years as where the Off Centre is located, in the Salmanca Arts Centre is a tourist centric area and often the artists in the retail area were the first point of local contact for the tourists.  I adored being an ambassador for my state and if I ever was after a proper job I would like to work in something tourism based. If I was less sure of my direction it also could have been a soul destroying three years as my work is not fashionable, it is not white and it is not porcelain. If I was less driven to comment on all the things, I would have walked away from clay and made greeting cards instead.

My work deals with social issues, with environmental issues, with the catastrophe that is unfolding in the ocean before our very eyes and  if I didn’t make work in response I  would be standing on a street corner yelling at people.

The next couple of photos are of my skull beads that I make in response to the plastication of the ocean. Skulls in some societies are meant to represent wisdom and so I make skulls hoping that people will wise up to the fact that it is our plastic, yours and mine that is destroying the ocean and killing our seabirds. And that we, you and I are the ones responsible for fixing the mess,not anyone else, us.

It is down to us.

You can read more about the skull beads here

This year  has been a year of rest, of contemplation and introspection and it has been nice to not be caught up in the Christmas madness of make make make. As all working potters will know it is in the lead up to Christmas that we try to recoup our losses and the December sales are the sales that pay the bills racked up during the year. Not having the pressure of making to a schedule has given me the freedom to do things I would otherwise not have discovered I enjoy. Like Teaching.

Earlier this year The Australian Ceramics Association announced the Unearth Your Local Potter, Open Studios and so the Tasmanian Ceramics Association opened up our studio. We had demonstrations and hands on activities and I was able to indulge my theatrical side and swan about the place acting super presidential and encouraging all our visitors to get their hands dirty. It was heaps of fun. From this one day of ceramic community fun, I started to teach a class of children on Sundays at the TCA studio in Glenorchy and so Clay Club was born.

This dragon is from eight year old Ruby, I am so annoyed with myself that after taking so much care to get Ruby’s dragon home safely to my studio, I broke the dragon’s leg packing the bisque. I do have a plan though and with any luck and a bit of artful glazing I can repair the break.

The next photo is a collection of work made at Clay club, mostly by 7 year old Kate. I take along coloured slip as well as suitable clay, so that the children can decorate their work on the spot. The colours look a bit washed out now as the work has been through the bisque but they will brighten up after a glaze firing.

Sometimes the parents stay at Clay Club with their younger children (as 7 year old is my starter age, if a younger child wants to attend they need to have a parent with them as their helper) and then the parents make some amazing things as well.

The elephant was made by one of the Dads. The seagull is mine. It was squeezing the blasted seagull into the kiln that broke the dragons leg.

I am going to make more seagulls this year but they probably won’t look very seagully as I am going to make dead sea birds.

Last week I started up Kim Foale Ceramics facebook page and I was blown away that I received over 200 likes in less than 24 hours. If you want to follow my ceramic journey on facebook, Kim Foale Ceramics is the place to do it.

And so to farewell Mud Colony I have given you a super condensed recap of my year. I would like to thank Adriana very much for starting up Mud Colony and connecting so many of us. As a ceramicist I work in isolation, pottering away in my studio by myself just making stuff up and blowing stuff up as I go along. A friendship group like Mud Colony is invaluable because as potters know, the heartbreak level in ceramics is very very high. It is great to have a place to go and say, hey guys guess what, I just destroyed three months worth of work in one go and all the potters will know exactly how that feels. And the flip side is to be able to say hey guess what guys I have just made this, isn’t it amazing that it actually worked.That is the joy of ceramic friendships and what Mud Colony has come to mean to me.