miles of tiles

 Haven't done this for a while.... I am (I think) going to post pictures of tiles. I like the place of tiles in ceramic history and their potential to tell stories etc.

 

This is an Iranian tile probably circa 1850. I cannot imagine the skills involved here. I saw it in the V&A in London...Maybe first in the 1980's. I spent a long time just staring at it. There is a link somewhere between image and text, song and illustration that gets me every time.

Queen Bitch

Last year I was asked to be Artist in Residence at the plush Sofitel in Melbourne.Two weeks in a luxury suite on the fortieth floor (or so) seemed like an opportunity one would be churlish to pass up.Luxury is a funny idea which has been researched, discussed and theorised quite thoroughly.In fact just before leaving London a few months before there was a major exhibition at the V&A dealing with the topic.
Whilst lounging in the hotel soaking up the ambience I began to think of the kind of individuals who spend a great deal of time in and around hotels.....Particularly those creative types who don't want to cook and clean or artists and entertainers who are forever touring, checking in and out, sitting around in their rooms between gigs, often bored wrapped up in quotidian activities waiting to be interviewed, waiting for cabs or waiting for a friend.
The day we were leaving the hotel I was given tickets to the Bowie exhibition by my hosts.Having have largely lost interest in the work of the Thin White Duke I was unsure how I would enjoy it but it was quite enlightening.The exhibition and the ideas around luxury coalesced leading me into a new bunch of pots.

Potland Oregon

Last year Shannon Garson approached me to be part of an exhibition of six Australian and six American potters during NCECAin Portland 2017.So I went.

Viola Frey,San Fran Airport

Chinatown

Spring springing

Cosy Cafe +The Society Hotel 

MAMBO pottery

In the 1980's I began working for Mambo Graphics,an iconic 'lifestyle clothing' brand in Australia producing drawings that became prints and fabrics adorning all matter of objects and clothing.Last year I was commissioned to tell a small part of the history of the company on the surface of a jar.These images are of the second version of that project.

Fresh crop

Pot Culture

Here is a short interview with me talking about a show I had a year or so ago in Melbourne..... https://vimeo.com/craftvictoria/potculture

Black and white world

A small film about making cups by Mickey Mason.