AA2A Workshops - BA Fashion Students

I ran two workshops with the second year BA fashion students in February at York College, the first workshop was focusing on the initial making whilst the second was looking at glazing. This was the fashion students first introduction to ceramics, as it was a small group I wanted to work with them to help realise their individual thoughts and ideas, this meant that they were all working with different methods and we covered a rather broad base, this ranged from slip casting to working with slabs to modelling. I don't have many photographs of these workshops as I was mainly focused on delivering them... I managed to grab a couple of afterthought shots though...
The work has all now been fired and the fashion students are busy integrating the ceramics with fabrics to create new fashion designs. I'll post some pics of their progress soon.

PORTFOLIO - Day 5, Artists Challenge

The last day of the 5 day artists challenge... it's getting harder to choose as there are so many things that I'm having to miss out! I also haven't had room to include any of my drawings or paintings which is a shame, these are today's images: 

Image 1 - The Goveshy, this was a piece of work that I made for the Art Party Conference at Scarborough Spa on the 23rd November 2013. The busts of Michael Gove were made from an 'in-kind' donation of Wedgwood blue Jasperware clay. The piece was intended to reference the destruction that Michael Gove was making by intending to remove art from the Ebacc for schools. 

More on the Goveshy can be found at my website:
http://www.karent.co.uk/goveshy.html

Karen Thompson - Goveshy, Ceramic & Wood

Image 2 is The Death of Sainsbury's, this is taken from my Trilogy of Death series. The series includes and was inspired by a copy of the Staffordshire pottery piece The Death of Munrow. I've made two contemporary companion pieces using the same elements as the original work, ie the man and tiger and I've re-arranged them to remark on contemporary social issues. The Death of Sainsbury's turns everything both metaphorically and literally on its head commenting on the simplicity of the food chain and the predominance of supermarkets within it.

More about the Trilogy of Death can be found on my website: 
http://www.karent.co.uk/atrilogyofdeath.html 

Karen Thompson - The Death of Sainsbury's (ceramic and plastic). Photo: David Chalmers

Image 3 is a selection of my Tureen Heads, these are a series of Victorian Chaps inspired by the Victorian ceramics of phrenology heads and animal tureens. They are a simple play bringing both of these elements together to create a fun modern day twist for the contemporary dinner party, I imagine the response as the lid is removed to reveal a bowl of cauliflower florets or perhaps peas!

Karen Thompson - Tureen Heads (Ceramic), Photo: David Chalmers

PORTFOLIO - Day 4, Artists Challenge

Day 4 of the 5 day challenge: Image 1 is a work called sightseeing, it's a fun sculptural piece which has come about from pottering around in the studio, it's potclays crank which comes out a lovely soft pink when fired to very low temperatures, the figures are small scale plastic models used in architectural displays.

Karen Thompson - Sightseeing (ceramic & plastic).

 

Image 2 is of my Curious Curiosities Tiger Jars, these are a further response to the Death of Munrow, making a Staffordshire style storage jar for all of one's strange little curios that one collects... or is that just me! 

Karen Thompson - Curious Curiosities (ceramic).

Image 3 is a selection of pots, this is the beginnings of an ongoing exploration into surface design, these pots are from different time periods. This is an area which I keep dipping in and out of and hope to focus on a little more in depth in the future.

Karen Thompson - Selection of Pots (ceramic).

More of my ceramic works can be seen by clicking onto the link over to my ceramics page on my website: http://www.karent.co.uk/Ceramics.htm

PORTFOLIO - DAY 3, Artists Challenge

Day 3 of 5 day challenge to show three images of work a day brings three images taken from my Farm World project, this installation is a work in progress and its first incarnation was shown at Crescent Arts in Scarborough as part of my studio residency. Farm World concerns itself with the state of current farming practices. 
The first of today's 3 images is  'A Poultry Life', this is a mixed media Ceramic and metal work looking at the mass production of chickens, it subverts the historical ceramic Hen egg holder, de-beaking and then malforming the ceramic casts made from traditional moulds, the Hens are then re-presenting on metal shelves referencing a cross between supermarket shelves and battery cages.

Karen Thompson - A Poultry Life (Farm World).

Image 2 is 'The GM Reaper', this is my take on a contemporary grim reaper inspired by a set of children's toy farmers made from plastic. This piece is commenting on Genetically Modified crops and the potential hazardous outcome they may have. The reference to plastic suggesting how we are becoming more and more influenced by the artificial.

Karen Thompson - The GM Reaper (Farm World), Ceramic. Photo: David Chalmers.

The final image today is a preliminary drawing for a piece I have yet still to make in ceramic. It's called 'The Human Milk Cow' and is a response to the news that Chinese scientists have genetically modified cows to produce human milk to feed to infants. I've taken my inspiration for this piece from Staffordshire pottery as I see this era of pottery as very much a form of documenting social history. 

Karen Thompson - The Human Milk Cow (Farm World).

More images can be found for Farm World at my website http://www.karent.co.uk/farmworld.html

AA2A WORKSHOP - Fashion Students in the Art Gallery Stores

Spent Friday morning last week in York Art Gallery's ceramic stores with fashion students from York College, the Art Gallery have asked the students to respond to a large specific piece that they have in their contemporary collections. The Gallery & the College have also asked me to run two workshops with the fashion students in February to support this project... looking forward to working with and inspiring the fashion students! 

York College fashion students & York Museum Trust

responding to the ceramics 

York Art Gallery ceramic stores.

Karen Thompson at York Art Gallery ceramic stores.

PORTFOLIO - DAY 2, Artists challenge

Day 2 of the 5 day artists challenge... Today's theme is  slip cast multiples in porcelain. The first image is of one of my porcelain sandwiches made for York Curiouser in 2014. 300 of these sandwiches were left in five locations around the City of York, the Museum gardens, Treasure's House Gardens, St. Anthony's Gardens, Kings Manor and on the York Walls. 

Karen Thompson - Porcelain sandwich from York Curiouser, Ceramic, 2014

Image 2 is from my 'Fragile' installation, this was made up of 300 PMN-2 landmines which were installed on the lawn outside the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath. They were aligned to reference and  resemble a military cemetery.

Karen Thompson - Fragile, 2008. Holburne Museum of Art, Bath

The last image today is a site specific piece of work made for the Siobhan Davies Studios in London. Referencing Louise Fitzjames, a Ballerina predominant in mid 19th Century France whom was likened to a 'dancing asparagus in battle of the vegetables'. 'We Must Fit In' is made up of porcelain anorexic dancing asparagus fixed into the stage of a dining table. It's looking at the predominance of eating disorders with dance and the sad fact that one must look the correct shape to be even granted an audition. 

Karen Thompson - We Must Fit In, 2010. Siobhan Davies Studios, London.

For more images on either of the three projects, link to my website:

http://www.karent.co.uk/yorkcuriouser.html
http://www.karent.co.uk/fragile.html
http://www.karent.co.uk/wemustfitin.html

PORTFOLIO - DAY 1, Artists challenge

I have been nominated by a couple of artists on Facebook to take part in the 5 days artists challenge. This is where I share 3 images of my works every day for 5 days... I thought that I would also extend these images to my blog and twitter account. So here goes, 

Day 1, I'm sharing an image of a piece of mixed media work I created in 2007 called 'Clicking With You', this was looking at my then current fascination with internet relationships and especially online dating. I was struck by the thought that people could engage in really intense relationships with folks they had never met and that sometimes the only tactile element of that relationship was in essence with the computer keyboard, a rather stale bit of lifeless plastic. 

Karen Thompson - Clicking With You, 2007

Image two is a piece entitled 'Retro Keyboard'. This is a simple comment on the 
historical use of ceramics for recording and documenting information.

Karen Thompson - Retro Keyboard, 2008

The third image is of 'Cuneiform Tablet, ca.2007, Language Qwerty'. This is the partner piece to the Retro Keyboard. Again I'm looking at the use of ceramics as a document for recording history and information. Most of our libraries were set up with the information contained on cuneiform tablets. This piece plays with the idea that historically reads were pushed into clay tablets to create hieroglyphics of information, whereas today we push a key into the keyboard to record information. For this piece I took the keys from the keyboard and pushed the underside of the computer keys into a slab of clay to create a form of modern day hieroglyphic. I sawdust fired the final piece creating a low fired modern day Cuneiform Tablet. 

Karen Thompson - Cuneiform Tablet, ca .2007,  Language Qwerty.

All three of these works were exhibited at the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath in June 2008 as part of my degree show. The installation also included the pieces, 'Meltdown', 'Tactile Keyboard' and 'Qwerty Morse Code'. More images can be seen on my website... http://www.karent.co.uk/qwerty.html

OUT & ABOUT - Goodbye 12 Bar Club... end of an era

A very sad week which sees the demise of the 12 Bar Club on London's Denmark Street. I spent most of my 20's in and around that venue and am very sorry to hear of it's enforced closure to make way for the new Crossrail redevelopment. I've had the great pleasure of meeting many amazing folks through the club, from the numerous monthly Cushy Productions events that my good friend Suzanne Rhatigan organised and sang at - to my time volunteering for Resonance FM when it first started out on Denmark Street. 

The nomadic panther returns...

Some of my favourite one off gigs there over the years have been the very packed Joanna Newsom gig, the not so packed secret Martha Wainwright gig, James Yorkston, the Rivulets, Elani Mandell to name a few... and some of the regulars whom I have seen grace the very wee stage time and time again and whom I have very fond memories of are... it goes without saying Rhatigan and the extended posse, Michael J Sheehy, Emma Tricca, Vince McGann....What a treat to be able to spend endless years blagging in for free and hanging out with some of the most amazing musicians from around the world... oh, and the incredible Andy Lowe, promoter extraordinaire... You will be sadly missed 12 Bar Club & Denmark Street! 

Joanna Newsom & 12 Bar Club Management, 2004. Photo: Karen Thompson.

PRESS - Charles Hutchinson's Picks of 2014

Great to see my Porcelain Sandwiches mentioned in Charles Hutchinson's pick of 2014... 

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/theatre/11697571.Charles_Hutchinson_makes_his_pick_of_arts_and_culture_events_from_2014/

UPCOMING - Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas for 2014, this years Christmas Card is 'Jesanta the Redeemer' aka. Santesus...

AA2A 'PLUS' - Back into the Art Gallery stores

I've been thinking a little about my first visit to the ceramic stores at the end of November. I was really drawn to the Thomas Toft piece which I mentioned in a previous blog post, this got me researching more work by and the history of Thomas Toft and his contemporaries. Of this style I particularly like the slipware chargers. I seem to be heavily drawn to the charger form at the moment... it's like a ceramic blank canvas waiting to be tackled with various decorative techniques. With this in mind when I had my second visit to the York Art Gallery's ceramic stores on Monday I was keen to unearth a selection of chargers and plates. I was interested to find out of they had any majolica or Delftware plates. I was in for a treat as I dug around in the mass of plate boxes and pulled out some of these inspiring chargers...

YORYM:2000.2674 - Delftware Charger, King William III on Horseback

YORYM:2000.3336 - Slipware Charger, Virgin Mary

YORYM:2000.2672 - Delftware Charger, Queen Anne

YORYM:2004.11968 - Kiity Shepherd, 1997

YMT.ED4071.6

YORYM:2000.2677 - Delftware charger, Adam & Eve

I've just searched google for 'English delftware chargers', this interesting quote has come up on Wikipedia...

Blue-dash chargers, usually between about 25 and 35 cm in diameter with abstract, floral, religious, patriotic or topographical motifs, were produced in quantity by London and Bristol potters until the early 18th century. As they were kept for decoration on walls, dressers and side-tables, many have survived and they are well represented in museum collections.

One of the most popular decorations on the blue-dash charger was a representation of Adam and Eve with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, produced from the 1630s to the 1730s. "The challenge of rendering the anatomy of Adam and Eve was inescapable, and as the subject became more and more freely repeated by painters of less and less competence, most of the anatomy gave trouble, particularly Adam's abdominal muscles, which eventually became grotesque and could not be wholly covered by his fig-leaf." In later examples, "the images had declined to the level of coloured graffiti; Adam and Eve were cave dwellers, the Tree had become a mere cipher and only the serpent and the fruit proved simple enough to survive debasement."^[3]

Funnily enough it's the naive style I seem to be drawn to in these chargers, I'm becoming more and more inspired by folk art and the naive style as well as outsider art. 

AA2A PLUS - First Visit to York Museums Trust's Stores

At the end of last month I managed to spend a couple of hours in York Art Gallery's 'top secret' ceramic store warehouse. It was quite a bombardment of the senses as I took in a diverse range of studio ceramics. I'm trying to focus in on one object that will inspire a new body of work. I'm unsure at the moment what direction that work will take but I have an inkling that it might be focusing on surface decoration as this is an area of investigation I am keen to revisit soon. My initial visit didn't manage to come up with any conclusive object which I could respond to, although there were a few items which caught my eye and I have been pondering since.

Among these objects was a fascinating Masons pot (YORYM:2001.427) this was made by John and Christopher Potter in between WW1 & WW2 in Staffordshire (Wedgwood), it's a large earthenware vase of a flattened disc shape with a tall foot. It's decorated around the shoulder with a landscape and Gothic castle, painted in colours over the glaze. The waist has a band of inscription painted in black which reads... I was painted by Alfred Powell for Omar Ramsden & Anne his wife of St. Dunstan's London S.W.  A.S.  MCMXXVIII. The underside is decorated with an underwater scene of fish in blue, green and silver. The tall foot is decorated with panels of floral decoration in gilt, red, green and blue.

A Mason's Pot. York Art Gallery Stores

An iconic piece of Thomas Toft slipware also caught my eye, there have already been many modern interpretations on his work including the late Bernard Leach. However, I can't resist the folk art feel and absolutely love his plates. He is well known for the plate of King Charles II (unfortunately not in York's collection!), maybe I could respond with a comment on the current debate over Richard III bones

Thomas Toft slipware - York Art Gallery Stores.

Thomas Toft - Charles II.

Bernard Leach.

There was also some lovely William De Morgan lustreware, I would love to explore lustreware a little as I think I may be a magpie... anything that is shiny! I also love his repetitive designs.

William De Morgan Lustreware, York Art Gallery stores.

I still have lots to ponder from my first visit to the stores and a stash of photos to take in. I can't wait to get into the stores again to have another look around. There were masses of goodies boxed away, I'd love to get unearthing some of the hidden treaures... 

TUREEN HEADS - Ideal Christmas Presents

Karen Thompson - Tureen Heads (Ceramic). Photo: David Chalmers.

Selling out fast are the Tureen Heads in the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle... Get yourself along there to grab one of the last ones before Christmas... They are also available in Angela & Rosie's in Scarborough, 108 Fine Art in Harrogate and the Margate Gallery. 

NEWS - Crafts Council Collections

Crafts Council accession forms

Just filling in and returning the accession forms for the Crafts Council. A GOVESHY Bust for the Crafts Council Collection and a Porcelain Sandwich for the Handling Collection. Great News! 

OUT & ABOUT - York Museums Trusts Stores

The Ceramics Collection @ York Museum Stores

Spent a couple of hours in the York Museums Trusts stores yesterday with my fellow 'AA2A Plus' artist Ian Kirkpatrick. There is a vast amount of studio ceramics in the store. It was fascinating getting some background information on the collectors also. It was all a bit overwhelming in the short time we were there so hoping to get back and have another look around shortly. I feel I've only just scratched the surface, it would be great to have a look inside some of the boxes at selected objects. 

EXHIBITION - Biscuit Factory

Lovely winter exhibition opening at the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle on Friday night... Lots of interest in my Trilogy of Death and Tureen Heads.

NEWS - AA2A 'Plus' Residency

I'm just starting my AA2A (artists access to art college) placement with York College. I have also been selected by York Museums Trust for a 'Plus' placement which means I will be working directly with the Trust. During my residency I intend to make some form of response to York Museums Trusts ceramics collection. I'm looking forward to getting into the store and having a look through some of the collections! York Art Gallery will re-open summer 2015 with new ceramics galleries and a new centre of ceramic art(CoCA), I feel lucky to be around a little in the run up to this big event.... 

PRESS - Yorkshire Post, 8th Nov 2014

My Tureen heads feature in this weekends Yorkshire Post Magazine...

Yorkshire Post Magazine - Sat, Nov 8th 2014.

OUT & ABOUT - Crescent Arts Painting Team

Crescent Arts painting team at the ready!

The things one is made to do! Last week the Crescent Arts painting team sprung into action in Queen Street. From left to right... Andrew Webb-Ellis, Caitlin Webb-Ellis, Karen Thompson, Sarah Coggrave and Serena Partridge... just to embarrass us all a little more! 

DRAWINGS: Badgered catch up

Been catching up a little with my Badgered project. A few recent drawings and a few old drawings which I eventually got around to scanning in and working on. The badges are all ready to be sent out to the unsuspecting victims which I'll do this week. Always wonder what folks will make of them just arriving on their doorsteps. 

www.karent.co.uk/badgered.html

PRESS: Front Page Cover of September 2014 Issue of The Skinny (Northwest)

Today saw my first front page cover of a magazine. The Skinny (Northwest) September 2014 issue features a detail from Goveshy. The skinny is the leading entertainment & listings magazine for Manchester, Liverpool and surrounding areas with a distrubution of 24,680 free copies. Click the link below to browse through the magazine.

http://issuu.com/theskinny/docs/the_skinny_northwest_issue_18?e=1069858/9156715#search

OUT AND ABOUT - Liverpool Biennial 2014

Crescent Arts day trip to the Liverpool Biennial.

Crescent Arts day trip to the Liverpool Biennial on Tuesday, an action packed day in which we managed to check out some of the work at the Library, The Old Blind School, The Tate, The Bluecoat and The Open Eye Gallery. 
Photo L-R: Sarah Coggrave, Serena Partridge, Katherine April Caddy, Karen Thompson & Stuart Cameron.

ART PART CONFERENCE - GOVESHY GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY - In anticipation of the upcoming release of the ART PARTY movie on the 21st August, I have 2 Michael Gove busts from the GOVESHY to give away. One to a new Follower of my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-T/173090019405194 or twitter account https://twitter.com/KarenTcouk (@KarenTcouk) and one to one of my current followers who share or retweet this post. I will be randomly selecting the two winners on the 21st August.

August 21st sees the nationwide release of the Art Party film by Tim Newton and Bob & Roberta Smith. I'm really looking forward to seeing it!! I shall definitely be at SJT in Scarborough watching. GOVESHY will also be making an appearance for the night of the 21st at the SJT in Scarborough... GOVESHY even made it into the official trailer! Bonus!