“I would describe my work within a conceptual craft frame, exploring the possibilities and limits of materials to support and encourage my conceptual enquiries. I am concerned with object/body/text relations and with the craft object as a physical meeting point and means of opening up dialogue/enquiry. The object has a strong grounding potential and helps tether my thinking and reading (of theory/philosophy) into the everyday. It can become a charged ‘prop’ or means through which to stimulate exchange. I am also interested in the performative possibilities of craft.
The themes contained within my work revolve around processes of transformation and display. I am excited by what I feel to be a productive friction between conceptual, functional and critical layers of making/production.”.
What an elegant and concisely informative statement that is. Clare is one of those lively, curious people who make the world seem full of possibility. I first met her some years ago, through a Spike Associates reading group, in Bristol. She now works out of Karst Studios in Plymouth, where our very own Keith Harrison is based.
After becoming reacquainted through a recent text exchange – check out this brilliant collaboration with writer Emma Cocker – Clare visited the ‘ceramics department’ at BSAD in early April. The Italic I piece (and the statement above) tell me that we have arrived at similar concerns, from very different starting points, so I was excited to be asked to write / collaborate on a new work for an exhibition in December.
The field expands apace…
BSAD Ceramics 