Keep Going

The start of 2021 was slow for the business, this was primarily due to Covid and its disruptions but I tried to use the time to make ceramics to sell which became productive towards the middle of the year. My processes of production needed to be streamlined and this required time - which I had - so that was a success. I’m not an organised person, but I do have order to what I do, I wouldn’t be able to do half of what I do without it.

Studio jobs like reclaiming clay, and cleaning up have become less of a battle and I needed another glazing table so that has made that job better. I don’t like glazing, it takes me a long time but it’s part for the job so I needed to make it work better. 

I have been working with a young creative called Amy and she has spent the year in my caravan throwing pots and making things. Amy also has a glass kiln she makes things in, and has funding to support her EHCP and is trying to starts her own little business selling her wares at stalls and online, we have spent the year working through plans and at the end of the year she sold her work at four stall events; Amy is a bright girl who has good common sense and she has good problem solving skills, 2022 should be a good year for her to take things forward and build on her ideas.

My work in schools started to happen again in September 2021 with a week long Big Draw project at Cherwell in Morley. I also started art after school clubs at Green Lane Primary in Garforth; it’s a ‘bread a butter’ job that gives me a regular income. I have enjoyed just spending time with the kids in a playful manner making things for two hours a week. Art clubs are not art lessons, the nature of them is less structured and relaxed. Although I always try to use my time to promote art, art club is paid for by parents and is an after school service. There is no curriculum for after school clubs so calling them extra-curricular seems wrong to me, but I do encourage curiosity through a variety of materials and explore art in a broad way as we try to understand why it’s important. I could make up my own curriculum but quite frankly there is one already and it should be taught during school time as part of the child’s statutory learning.

I have worked for a six week period in November/December 2021 at Asquith Primary working with three boys who struggle to access the curriculum. It was a child centric activity where the boys directed the activity of the session. I would ask them what they wanted to make and the. I would sort out the materials and they would make it. I would help with technique and methods of production but they lead the ideas. Towards the latter sessions I could see a relationship forming between the boys but the sessions ended and that made me sad. Not because it meant my work had stopped but because these boys didn’t naturally gel at the start and a lot of my session was trying to influence attention spans and positive conversation. But on the fifth session we painted pictures. They chose the subject matter and I helped with technique and the outcome surprised the boys. They surprised themselves at what they produced. My main objective was to help them focus and complete their task each session. I wanted them to feel productive, I wanted them to feel like I do when I buckle down and push through and surprise myself at the outcome. That creative exchange between me and my materials is a powerful thing. I think they felt it, and then it stopped and that’s sad. One week we were making houses out of clay. It was Christmas and they were excited about making something they could give to their loved ones.

One boy in particular has a natural inclination to make stuff. His hands and brain are intuitive but there are other issues in his life which means he might not often engage with this creative intelligence. I made mention that he was a ‘natural at clay work and could be a potter’, the other adult in the room said ‘or even an architect’. And although he could be an architect, I was trying to promote simplicity in a complex little life. I was trying to introduce them all to a rhythm between thinking and making, a rhythm I feel when I make stuff. I know this rhythm is a key to discipline… you show up, you work and you keep going.