Studio Diary: The Marking Time Sculpture at Bronllys Hospital, Powys.part 3.

March 20, 2016 by Rebecca Buck

This project is a joy. The Theme and the build are very challenging, which is great. And I am working for a wonderful team of dedicated, committed people who have been involved in it, in various ways for years. They have all put in countless hours of voluntary time. The writer and poet Mark Christmas and designer Mick Farrell, both military Veterans, have been the driving force. They made a sheltered garden at Bronllys. They have contributed significantly to the design of the Marking Time walk and sculpture and they have donated beautiful poems written especially for the woodland site at Bronllys Hospital.

This one will be set at the entrance to the woodland.

Catching a Moment

Within these woods

there is a breath to be found

to ease new life into sight and sound

transforming our world and how we see

each branch, each twig, each living tree

so when the hurt inside we feel

creates distraction with no appeal

take a walk on this path to find this rhyme

you will no longer be ‘Marking Time.’

Dedicated to those who understand.

Mark Christmas, 2015

Mark Christmas has two ongoing projects that have formed some of the back-ground to Marking Time: The Abandoned Solider ( or on Facebook) and the TAS Project.

This one will be part of the sculptures base.

We are the child of nevermind

Who, finding dreams lost, unfind

Who, wandering, walking paths unknown

to find a woodland overgrown

And seeing in that woodland Glen

The happy minds of nevermen

Who elfin laughter laughly speak

Of how we humans keenly seek

Some new haven overhewn

And child stars of the moon

Mick Farrell, 2016.

Both of these lovely people are right there anytime I need more information or

inspiration. They have been hugely supportive and encouraging.

Mark Christmas had formed a link with Ross Bennet, the out-standing Art teacher at Llandrindod Wells High School and we planned a Workshop there.

It is not easy for a school to accommodate a Project Workshop into their packed schedules. Ross and Head-Teacher Jane Asplin went well out of their way.

We started with the excellent, really skilful A-Level pupils. I brought along the model and described the project and what work needed doing.

These guys are working on the panels for 2 of the corners. We talked about the use of repeating patterns in art-work. Marking Time has 3s running all through it. The pupils chose an elegant celtic emblem of 3 from the internet that will also echo the curves of the sculpture. The third panel will be the same shape, show a version of the emblem and have the Dragon story set on it with stamps by Mount Street Junior School in Brecon.

I particularly liked the choice the pupils made to have the panels linked but not the same.

I lost track of what year groups came along during the day because they were all equally quick on the up-take, skilful, very creative and completely charming. It was an excellent day: the pupils were thoughtful about the project, open and forthcoming with their ideas, encouraging to each other, relaxed and friendly towards me.

They have a fantastic relationship with the two Art Teachers: this is clearly an Art Department that goes above and beyond every day. Other pupils dropped in from 8.30am until 4.30 to get support, information and encouragement from the teachers they trusted. The Teachers never took a break and had their lunch on the fly. They knew every pupil and cared about every piece of work. It was inspiring!

I wish I had had more time to look through the pupil’s portfolios. The couple I saw were wonderful and so was all the work on the walls. Pupils are being guided to their own style at this school. And they get the opportunity to use a wide range of materials including digital. It was great to see so many boys in the A-Level group.

The central mosaic will be made up of coloured glass pebbles and beautifully decorated tiles, full of vitality, made by this wonderful group.

Llandrindod High School has taken the art-work on the sculpture’s base to a new level. So I’m re-designing the layout: the lovely mosaic tiles will easily hold their own and I don’t want to crowd them. Mick’s poem will now be in bigger letters and go on the face of the railway sleepers that will be the most visible. Mount Street Juniors will make a great job of those tiles.

Studio Diary: The Marking Time Sculpture at Bronllys Hospital, Powys.part 2.

February 21, 2016 by Rebecca Buck

Marking Time Scale Model 1

It has been a really good Consultation period. Everyone has been very open and generous with their time and thoughts, even when it was very difficult for them to do so.

The models, figures, benches and bases shown are all to scale. The full sized versions would have more texture/detail and the benches would be a metre further away.

We identified our primary audience as the people using, visiting or working at Bronllys Hospital. The overall impression/feel of the sculpture should be up-lifting and hopeful to support those who are ‘marking time’ in stressful circumstances.

“The sculpture should have an aura of peace that will not interfere with the person’s unique moment”

“…so people can sit down and stay calm and feel safe.”

” In the discipline of Marking Time and manoeuvres like that, vulnerable people can find structure for their chaotic lives.”

” Marking Time is marching on the spot, keeping the beat, keeping in step with the group, in readiness to move onto the next task.”

And this triangle is the spot where the Marking Time Sculpture will go. There will be comfortable benches set in place so visitors, patients and staff have a tranquil place to sit and get a break from the often over-whelming activity in the Hospital.

The children at Mount Street Junior School felt it was important to help the Servicemen and women to forget and to ease them back into civilian life with games, walks, sports and domestic routines. The Ex- Servicemen and women agreed that humour and a sense of playfulness were key in allowing them not to forget but to learn to feel again. Military training is, by necessity, dehumanising:

“Dehumanised Soldiers find it hard to play nicely…”

“Snowball fighting can be more fun than real fighting because nobody gets hurt.”

The children agreed that ” The Soldiers need a bridge for when they come back to their families from the War.”

Many Servicemen are adolescents when they join-up and their training replaces the natural pace of growing up. They cannot contextualise the shocks they are exposed to.

Marking Time Scale Model 1. Bird forms in many sizes creating movement around the central space. 160cm H.(incls base).

Marking Time Scale Model 2. Bird forms with a patterned texture suggested. 1metre high from the ground.

So: a sculpture with a narrative that releases the imagination, shows protectiveness and how the burden of being fierce and brave is shared and eased by those, of all sizes, being protected.

Marking Time Scale Model 3. Three bird-forms.180cm H (incls base).

“A flowing circle, the movement of life, love, hope and promise will draw you in and guide you to change.”

Marking Time Scale Model 3

“Regrets, we all have them. You need Hope to manage them.”

“Ephemeral, shadow-like.” ” A dragon in the mist.” “Inter-weaving the real and the etherial, making them equal.” ” Dragon of protection, Bird of hope.” “Intertwined spirals” “Water represents calm and peace. Flowers represent beauty. Dragon represents protection.” “…and a mystical Dragon and a moat with 3 piranhas.”

Marking Time Scale Model 4

“The Bronllys Dragon by Ben,aged 8.

Once upon a time there was a Dragon called Yddraig Goch. He would guard the Castle day to night until one day the Gorgan Maduser came. She looked the dragon in his eye but Yddraig Goch was quick as lightening to fly away. Yddraig Goch flew to the Military and perched on the roof. The army heard a thump on the roof and found Yddraig Goch, the Welsh Dragon.

“Shoot him” said Ian. “I am ready, Sir”

“Wait!”said the Captain.

“What?!” said the army.

“It’s Yddraig Goch, Lets make friends.”

“What, with a Dragon?” “Yes! Maybe he can help us against the other armies.”

Marking Time Scale Model 4

The triangle base and the use of 3s has multiple significances in the Military, where groups are divided into 3 parts throughout it’s structure starting with Army/Airforce/Navy. Celtic and Christian symbolism is over-flowing with 3s.

Linked to the triangle is the heart shape, despite its over-use, still a “powerful symbol of the strongest emotion, the one that triumphs over all others.”

Marking Time Scale Model 4

In Wales the Dragon is an especially potent icon representing the Land and bravery. The Red Kite is the Welsh National Bird and the symbol of Powys. Red Kites live separately but hunt and feed collectively when ever they can. They have an ordered community and share food and protect each other. After nearly going extinct in the UK due to cruelty and stupidity, their recovery has been brought about by the protection from a better society. Breeding from the surviving Welsh Kites, their numbers are growing: like the phoenix rising from the ashes.

For each version of the Sculpture: The Mosaic Base.

The base of the sculpture will raise slightly in the centre of the triangle. A mosaic of good sized tiles of many shapes, with images and words about what makes up a strong Community, made with Mount Street Juniors and the A-Level students in Llandrindod Wells and beautiful, and vivid glass pebbles will be set in swirling lines with the most colour in the centre representing souls, ideals, that which is vulnerable and precious.

The colours are blues/greens/yellows.

In the corners of the triangle will be set large tiles with ‘Accept the Past’, ‘Trust the Present’ and Faith in the Future’ and celtic knot-work carved on them.

Assessment:

I don’t recommend Models 1-3. They are lovely in themselves but don’t quite hit the mark. They have been useful transitionary pieces.

Model 4:

The dragon’s expression will be extremely gentle and caring. The birds, of all sizes and types but mostly red kites will soar out from the centre. They will have a softness to their lines. They will support, encourage and assist the benevolent dragon, their wings working with his.

The max height (including base) is 180cm. Width: 150cm. Depth: 180cm.

The form has lightness and movement but is actually very strong and safe in all the ways discussed.

There will be many view-points of the mosaic.

The full sized version will have expressive textures and many more birds than could be put on a small model. It will be a very complex build and I am happy to add voluntary hours to the budget and time-line in order to complete this challenging piece because I believe it will be very beautiful.

Model 4 uses the consultation resources and our intended outcomes to the best effect. I feel everyone who contributed will be very pleased and will be able to see that their work is included.

Model 5: This is a condensed version of Model 4. It has the best of Model 4 and it adds the iconic local sky-line of Pen y fan mountain in the near-by Brecon Beacons. The Kite is now powerful enough to bring a sense of guardian angel to the mix. The Dragon and the Kite interact to create an embrace around the centre of a richly coloured mosaic of glass pebbles and hand-made and decorated tiles in shades of blue and green that swirl outwards from the centre. It has 3 points connecting it to the ground. There are 2 holes through the form.

Marking Time, Bronllys Hospital, Scale Model 5.

The max height (including base) is 180cm. Width: 150cm. Depth: 180cm.

The form will not get cluttered with leaves in the way that Model 4 will in this woodland site. Model 5 will age gracefully with out looking neglected. It is sturdy and safe while retaining the flowing movement.

Update, 5/3/16

To keep within the Budget we need to reduce the size of the foundation.

Model 6 is based very much on Model 5 but it is divided into 3 sections which has lead to some interesting and lovely developments in the forms. The sense of the protective, sheltering embrace is still clear but there is more movement and echoes of bird-forms. The dragon’s head is moved into the centre adding to the protective feel and this enhances the over-all silhouette.

The dimensions are the same. I have added to the base-line so that the 3 forms are self-supporting to ease strain on the small foundations. When the sculpture was a single form it supported itself from tipping over. But the weight was all standing on 3 small points that would have put a lot of strain on a small foundation. The 3 sections allow some ‘give’ as the sculpture settles on the site.

This model is not as neatly finished as Model 5: don’t let that distract you. I will use both models during the build.

Marking Time Model 6.

The foundation will have 3 parts linked by a reinforcement-bar grid. Hard-core will form a small rise towards the centre. The mosaic will be set into hand-made cement paving slabs made at Osprey Studios. This will give more time to the layout of the mosaic and the results will be better than setting them onsite. It will save the surprisingly large cost of Out-door Tile Adhesive.

This is a good set of solutions with a lot gained and nothing lost except the costs of a large, poured foundation. It does create a lot more work for the sculpture-build but I am willing to take that on: it will be satisfyingly challenging.

How to Coil-build with clay from small to monumental.

November 6, 2015 by Rebecca Buck

There are lots of variations on the Coil-Building method. This one avoids all the pit-falls that cause your pots to go out of shape or break in the kiln.

I started out as a Coil-builder 34 years ago and I still turn to it regularly. All my monumental brick sculptures are coil-built. It’s all about understanding the clay and how joins are actually formed. The skills you gain from coil-building are extremely transferable making it a great place to start for beginners. There is a lovely rhythm to the work.

Here is the Coil-building Workshop that I run at Osprey Studios. Many thanks to my lovely students for being in these pictures.

How to do excellent Coil-Building.

Choose a clay with a medium to high percentage of multi-grade grog ( grit in different sizes from dust to medium sized bits). Scarva ES 50 Crank is ideal. Clays of this type will give you the best results.

1.Start with the biggest pinch-pot you can comfortably make. (Unless your piece is really too big; leave out as much of the centre of the base as possible.)

2.Make it round.

3.The most important thing is an even thickness of up to 2cm at any point.

4.Gently ease it into the shape of the first section of your pot.

5.Set it aside to stiffen up.

6.Have several on the go at the same time so you are not tempted to rush each one.

7.Prepare the top edge to make a join. NEVER use a pointy tool. Use a serrated tool so that the score marks are not too deep. Fill these ‘ditches’ with water and give it time to soak in. Dab on a little more. Then put on slip; slip is perfect for holding a lot of water in place.

Very important bit.

Genuine joins are formed when the chains of platelet-shaped particles from each section inter-lock. Imagine a magnified image of tangled hair.

Score marks do not give the surface ‘tooth’; they allow water into the clay-body. On vertical surfaces score marks and slip hold the water in place to give it time to sink in.

Slip is not ‘glue’. It is clay particles spread out in water and has little strength, especially when it has dried. It is ideal for holding a lot of water in place to give it time to be absorbed to soften the area of leather-hard clay.

Never use a needle tool. Your score marks will be too narrow and deep. They will get covered over, resulting in a ring of tiny but malevolent air-bubbles that will expand in the firing and a crack will zing along the joins. I have fired pots for poor, misinformed makers that have come apart at every coil! You could see the deep score marks and powdery slip.

8.Start making your coil from a generous block of clay. Squeeze it gently and repeatedly into a thick sausage shape.

Using 2 hands gently squeeze your coil until it is 2 or 3 cm thick. Do NOT roll your coil.

9.Using 2 hands gently, and rotating, squeeze your coil until it is 2 or 3 cm thick. Do NOT roll your coil.

Every join is an opportunity for a crack, every coil a point where you might loose control of your shape. So it makes sense to use coils that are large enough to handle well and will give you 4cms of height.

Rolling your coil on the table can cause 2 problems;

The grog that would have helped create an excellent join is packed towards the centre of the coil and the finer particles of clay are packed together to form a ‘skin’ of tight platelet shaped particles that are reluctant to reach out and bond with the platelets of the pot.
enthusiastic rolling often causes a tunnel to form at each end of the coil that would be a substantial, damaging air-bubble. This is why you often see coil-builders break off both tips of their coils with out even looking at them; they know that hazard is probably there.

10.Rub the softened score-marks and excess slip off the pot until the edge is sticky not slippery. Your platelets are raised and receptive.

11.Attach 1 end of your coil. Hold the other end high. Gradually lower the coil, expelling air and any surplus slip.

Guide the coil downwards and forwards with a pinch. This action creates a friction between the 2 surfaces that causes the platelets to hook onto each other from the pot to the coil.

12.Guide the coil downwards and forwards with a pinch. This action creates a friction between the 2 surfaces that causes the platelets to hook onto each other from the pot to the coil.

Do not be tempted to push clay down the pot with this step. Go to the end of your coil and stop. Do NOT go up another layer!

13.pinch upwards gently only at the seam off the join. (your finger and thumb will touch pot and coil each time) I call this lining-up. Do inside first; this may push the wall out. next do outside; this will correct a bulge.

The over-hang of the coil can trap air if hastily pressed down. Rushed building is why coil-pots have a very unfair reputation for being hideous.

14.Go around and move clay down with your thumb; 1st the inside, then the outside as above.

With thumbs inside and fingers on outside ( for best control) gently pinch the clay in the desired direction for your shape. Use many light pinches not a few strong ones for best results. The most important thing is the thickness. Not the height.

15.With thumbs inside and fingers on outside ( for best control) gently pinch the clay in the desired direction for your shape. Use many light pinches not a few strong ones for best results. The most important thing is the thickness. Not the height.

16.Support with 1 hand on outside. Gently move clay in many directions to get that coil right where you want it. Inside first, of course.

17.Now the outside.

Support hand on outside, use serrated kidney to improve inner surface. Go in many directions, gently combing the clay into place. Then do the outside.

18.Support hand on outside, use serrated kidney to improve inner surface. Go in many directions, gently combing the clay into place. Then do the outside.

19.Repeat this action with a firm rubber kidney creating a strong, smooth surface.

Sit back and look at the outline of your form. Use a paddle (flat stick) to tap in bumps or bulges. Rotate around the whole form in stages so that the stress of this action is spread evenly through the clay. Paddling compacts the clay particles making your form very strong. But over-doing it on one area can lead to cracks because it alters the drying rate.

20.Sit back and look at the outline of your form. Use a paddle (flat stick) to tap in bumps or bulges. Rotate around the whole form in stages so that the stress of this action is spread evenly through the clay. Paddling compacts the clay particles making your form very strong. But over-doing it on one area can lead to cracks because it alters the drying rate.

21.Paddling can clarify your shape: it’s really satisfying.

22.Use curved tools to paddle the inside.

23.Soften any indented areas that you don’t like and add clay to fill them. Add textures in the same way. Paddle them gently.

24.Scrape /smooth with those kidneys again.

Now even up the top edge by subtracting or adding clay. Let it stiffen. Go over it again with a surform blade.( these take off nice controllable layers.)

25.Now even up the top edge by subtracting or adding clay. Let it stiffen. Go over it again with a surform blade.( these take off nice controllable layers.)

Spend a lot of time on the edge. use firm tools to compact the clay and get every millimetre of that edge exactly how you want it: attention to this detail will transform your pot.

26.Spend a lot of time on the edge. use firm tools to compact the clay and get every millimetre of that edge exactly how you want it: attention to this detail will transform your pot. Also tidy up the bottom edge where your form meets the table.

27.My coil-building tools. The spray is water.

Coils are perfect for all sorts of applications.

This bio-morphic head is being built on a clay armature with the techniques described in How to Make a Head. I use coils attached in exactly the same way as I would on a pot to get excellent joins. The coil is then pinched in the direction I want it to go.

28.This bio-morphic head is being built on a clay armature with the techniques described in How to Make a Head. I use coils attached in exactly the same way as I would on a pot to get excellent joins. The coil is then pinched in the direction I want it to go.

Using Supports.

When you are making complicated shapes use temporary supports made of clay that will shrink with the form. Build in support walls and buttresses. Use rigid supports with care: plan to accommodate the shrinkage.

Here I am putting down the first layers of 2 big sculptures. I am using Coleford brick clay in a very soft state. My 'coils' are half bag blocks but they are applied and treated in the same way as any good coil. The walls are thicker at the base to support the considerable weight of the next layers. The internal support-walls are thinner. On very big sculptures these support walls will be discarded when the sculpture is cut into sections. On medium sized sculptures, that will be cut into parts not panels, the internal support walls will be left in to maintain the shapes during firing.

29.Here I am putting down the first layers of 2 big sculptures.
I am using Coleford brick clay in a very soft state. My ‘coils’ are half bag blocks but they are applied and treated in the same way as any good coil.
The walls are thicker at the base to support the considerable weight of the next layers.
The internal support-walls are thinner.
On very big sculptures these support walls will be discarded when the sculpture is cut into sections.
On medium sized sculptures, that will be cut into parts not panels, the internal support walls will be left in to maintain the shapes of the sections during firing.

30.Note the finger marks left by the process: these are just like the marks of a serrated-kidney on a smaller pot. Like corrugation, they add strength to the wet clay wall and will be left on until the clay is firm enough to hold it’s shape.

The same layer of the fired panel-sections of Bruce during installation.

Bruce in progress. There is a clay support wall under his head and the stack of blokes.

31.Bruce in progress, 3m wide x 2 m high. There is a clay support wall under his head and the stack of blocks was added later and removed as soon as the head was firm enough to cut apart.

Here’s some good examples of rigid supports in action:

32. Mynydd Mawr Courtyard Sculpture, Tumble, Carmarthen, Wales, 2m H x 190cm W. The big blocks are firm memory foam which will accommodate the shrinkage. I often use it inside a piece to support ceilings. It gets removed when the piece is cut up.

33.Because this rigid support leans outwards it will not constrict the shrinkage. It was adjusted repeatedly during the build.

Mynydd Mawr, Tumble, nearly complete. Larger sculptures are always built from a scale model. The internal support walls are worked out in advance and the cutting of sections planned so that those walls will support the section's shape during firing.

34.Mynydd Mawr, Tumble, nearly complete. Larger sculptures are always built from a scale model. The internal support walls are worked out in advance and the cutting of sections planned so that those walls will support the section’s shape during firing.

front view. That broom was a good buy.

35.Balarat Pit Marker,in progress, 6m L x 2m H. ( Ocean Colliery Pit Marker in background.) Memory foam on top of clay support walls inside the sculpture supports that long roof and accommodates the shrinkage.

The Sirhowy Wyvern in progress, 3m L x 2 m H. A tunnel runs under the horse with carved images on it's walls so we needed access to it. A thin support wall blocks the tunnel half way. It supports the structure but allows us to crawl in do the art-work ( a lot was done by some fab children) The support was discarded when we cut the sections. We didn't get to see the tunnel right through until it was installed on site.

36.The Sirhowy Wyvern in progress, 3m L x 2 m H. A tunnel runs under the horse with carved images on it’s walls so we needed access to it. A thin support wall blocks the tunnel half way. It supports the structure but allows us to crawl in do the art-work ( a lot was done by some fab children) The support was discarded when we cut the sections. We didn’t get to see the tunnel right through until it was installed on site.

Bucket and stool supporting the tunnel roof while we built it. The board to the left of the picture is there to protect some intricate carving about the Sirhowy Iron Works during the build.

37.Bucket and stool supporting the tunnel roof while we built it. The board to the left of the picture is there to protect some intricate carving about the Sirhowy Iron Works during the build.

Adding clay on to the surface.

38.All the big coiled sculptures have artwork added onto the surface once it is firm. Exactly like the smaller pot, the area is softened using scored ‘ditches’ and slip to hold the water in place, allowing it to soak in to the firm clay and raise up those platelet shaped clay particles ready to join with soft clay.

Once a good join is achieved the added clay is modelled and carved in stages as the clay firms up. The drying ( and shrinking) is kept slow using plastic covers to allow that vulnerable join to set as the water moves from the soft added clay into the firm wall.

Remember that water will always want to be level and will travel down the form over time as well as evaporating from the surface. This passage of water past those platelets completes the join. If there is too much water it will collect and run down the join, destroying the bond.

With that in mind add as much clay as your artwork needs. If it becomes more that 2 cm thick hollow it from the inside even if this means cutting the section out of the form, hollowing it and reassembling it. The important thing is to find a way to get the look you want. For advice on this process click here: Working solid and hollowing sections out.

Drying coil-built forms.

39.Use plastic to shield firm parts from drying while you work on new parts. e.g. a strip of plastic sheet to keep the top edge soft while you put art-work on a lower area before it gets to hard. And visa-versa.

Slow the drying as much as possible to allow all those joins to set using plastic sheets.

Cover the piece in a shield of newspaper ( 5 sheets thick) or a cardboard box or fabric sheets (not wet) to create a damp micro-climate that will slowly release the water from the clay and protect from drafts that would cause un-even drying (and maybe, consequently, cracking)

Related info on this site.

For a full description of how the really big sculptures are done click here: Building Brick Sculptures on a monumental scale.

The whole story of the fab Gwalia Mynydd Mawr Care and Nursing Home Courtyard Sculpture designed with local primary school children and staff and residents of the Home, run by Arts Care Gofal Celf in Carmarthen, Wales: Studio Diary, The Tumble Commission, parts 1-8.

Using clay armatures and coils: How to Make a Head: Clay Armatures and Building Hollow.

Questions?

put your questions in the Comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

If you follow this site you will get an e-mail each time I put up a new post. I hope these ‘How to..’ posts are useful. Pass them on freely. Share pictures of what you make on my Facebook. I would love to see it.

Studio Diary, Reflecting on Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.

October 4, 2015 by Rebecca Buck

You can imagine how massively pleased I feel when people say my work must be influenced by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. They have been the corner-stone of my development as they have for so many artists of all disciplines.

Last July I finally made my first visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle. I was invited by a lovely Collector who is from Yorkshire and is a big Hepworth/Moore fan. She has a range of my formative pieces; she is interested in those transitionary points in Artist’s work.

After the visit I poured out the first impressions in the Studio for a few months and now I’m re-studying the work of these giants and reviewing their influence on what I make and the process; The Doubts are always hovering on the edge. They regularly get to me and leave me questioning the validity of my work process; can you really share experience and ideas through abstract form?

Barbara Hepworth was confident that Sculpture was an essential natural work for humans, that it must be because we have done it since our very earliest days. Studying her work and biography taught me that you can join forces with your material to translate the voice of your environment into forms that will communicate to others.

Hepworth, Moore and most of their extraordinary contemporaries were quite sure that if you trained your craftsmanship thoroughly, and knew and respected your material, you would be able to work directly through your well informed intuition to create valuable, meaningful artwork that ‘felt right’ to you and spoke to others. The incomparable Conceptual Artist Grayson Perry talked about these values in his Reith Lectures this year and stated that perhaps the time we are in now is in need of evocative, powerful art that talks to the soul rather than the intellect.

I decided to write this post over these reflective months to clarify what I’m doing in my own practice. I will add to it over time to help maintain my focus.

It really looks like this lad is checking his phone.

Both Hepworth and Moore studied the figure extensively in the traditional way.

I was one of those kids who was always making things out of toilet paper and sellotape and by my teens, in the 1970s, I was taking my subject seriously. I read everything I could find about my favourites, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore and I tried to copy their education. I lived in Oxford (UK) at the time so I could spend hours drawing in the Cast Gallery ( an amazing collection of casts from Greek and Roman statuary; extraordinary, muscly figures that kept still!) in the basement of the Ashmolean Museum. In Pitt Rivers Museum there was Skeletons and freaky taxidermy ( animals in crazy poses, that kept still.) At Oxpens Tech we did formal life-drawing of nudes and during my BFA hons at the Art Department of Boston University, USA, I was was hugely fortunate to be taught figure and portrait skills by Lloyd Lilly. He was a wonderful and exacting tutor and I owe him a great deal.

At The Hepworth in Wakefield.

In my early 20’s I lived in Cornwall, UK, for a year or so and visited Hepworth’s Studios in St. Ives and kissed the ground she walked upon. My work started to properly Abstract around then under the wonderful, great-humoured, very practical guidance of the lovely sculptor Ron Wood.

So this trip to Yorkshire was a pilgrimage for me. And it was absolutely wonderful. Pippa was a fabulous host and such a great person to be with because she is fascinated with sculpture and comes to it from a different angle than I do, making talking it through with her intricate and revealing. Plus she is a laugh and we had a great deal of fun; she showed me the real Wakefield right down to the Rhubarb Liquor.

The Hepworth at Wakefield.

The Hepworth in Wakefield is just awesome. A striking modern building with wonderful light. It’s right in town near the shops and one of the things that made me so jubilant was seeing families who had clearly dropped in for another visit as a treat for their excited kids who were loving it. The Museum staff had groups of children sitting on the floor laughing and chatting and making things in front of these stunning sculptures. No hushed tones, everyone there (and it was busy) was relaxed and enchanted.

Barbara Hepworth, Figure for Landscape, 1960.

The major Hepworth Retrospective ‘Sculpture for a Modern World’ is at the Tate in London this year, so everything was re-arranged and Pippa spotted pieces she had never seen before.

This room is fantastic.

The scene was the same at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It was an ordinary weekend and the huge carparks were packed. Families and friends were walking amongst the fantastic sculptures with the relaxed ease of familiarity, having picnics, playing, soaking-in the presence and passion of the artwork.

Henry Moore

Anthony Caro

Lynn Chadwick.

In the Underground Gallery they had set a completely stunning exhibition ” Henry Moore, Back To A Land”. Such a great title, I was hooked as soon as I saw it as we entered the Park. The Show was beautifully lit and spacious. There were pieces I had never seen before. And lots of preparatory work like small scale models, drawings, found objects like intriguing stones. His tools were laid out respectfully. I would dearly love to have had this Show as my home. It was wonderful. There is a nice short film that introduces the Show the very well; Henry Moore at YSP.

I had planned to do my BFA,Hons thesis on Henry Moore. I had an appointment to meet with him in 1985. I transported my feint ghost of a self, rigid with respect, awe and generalised terror, to his home and Studio. But sadly he was too unwell that day to see me. One of his very kind, thoughtful and generous assistants took me around the studios and told me all about it. I wrote my thesis about him in the end and I cringe to admit that I can’t remember his name. They were enlarging this sculpture, or one very like it , in polystyrene, scaling up from a small model Henry Moore had made many years previously. The Lovely Assistant told me that Henry often felt very anxious when this happened, that he wasn’t sure it was right to enlarge a piece made to be small. We all get the doubts…!

Henry Moore

Both Hepworth and Moore used evocative, shifting textures that further describe the forms by capturing shadows and reflecting concentrated spots of light. In both of these exceptional venues you can get right up close and inspect the craftsmanship. At YSP, even outside, they do ask that you don’t touch the work but the sheep use them as windbreaks and scratching posts so most people feel there their gentle caress wont do any harm and it feels very good to send Henry Moore a whispered message of gratitude and recognition from the heart and through the hand.

Barbara Hepworth. Detail of Rock Form (Porthcurno), 1964.

Barbara Hepworth, Figure (Archaean) 1959.

These details of Rock Form and Figure (Archaean) show the deeply textured surface built up in plaster with the intension of ultimately being bronze. Both Moore and Hepworth had carving as their true-love but both built up forms with plaster, and occasionally clay, for models, to be cast in bronze. Here’s the whole of Rock Form showing the texture across the form;

Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth, Rock Form (Porthcurno), 1964. She wrote of the group of pieces that include this one;’these are all sea forms and rock forms, related to Porthcurno on the Land’s End coast with its queer caves pierced by the sea. They were experiences of people- the movement of people in and out is always a part of them’. I lived in St Agnes on the north Cornwall coast around 1980ish. Fabulous area over-flowing with strange myths, legends and other-worldly beings. People often go there to loose themselves for a while. Hepworth moved her young family there just before WW2 broke out. Her Studio and the work in it left in London was destroyed by bombings. She stayed in Cornwall for the rest of her life, playing her part in the prosperity of the area along with Bernard Leach’s Pottery that continues to this day with the Tate Gallery having a wing there.

Barbara Hepworth

I particularly love Rock Form. The holes face into the form bringing light in to meet within the shelters of the sculpture. Both Moore and Hepworth use the edges of holes so ingeniously to hold or pour light around the forms. Interior space is a massive issue with sculpture made in ceramic because the pieces usually have to be hollow if they are over a certain size wether that space has meaning to the theme or not. Bronzes are hollow too but, no matter what it is made into, ceramics always carries it’s ancient history of pots that is so intricately entwined in our evolution that we describe our bodies as vessels; no one can resist looking into the openings of big pots , can they. I am particularly re-studying the use of holes and the directing of a flow around forms in both sculptors work.

Henry Moore

They both also used grouped forms a lot and one sculpture made of several parts is classic Moore. It’s really hard to do. Currently my work is gradually disassembling; bases reduced as far as possible, interior space integrated with the exterior (to a point…LOT more work needed there…) surfaces deeply textured. But so far any attempts to divide the form reek of pastiche. You can’t fake this stuff, it has to be sincere and real. Henry Moore had a strong relationship with the monumental formations of stone on the moors of his formative environment and tunnelling coal mines of his community. For the last 17 years I have lived in a landscape and culture shaped by mining; 12 in the Rhondda Valley and making Pit Markers and Memorials across the Valleys and the last 5 years in the Upper Tawe Valley, with the front of Osprey Studios facing a working pit and and the back facing the ancient, worn, mountains of the Brecon Beacons. The Landscape Series ( with the awesome Photographer, Stephen Foote) is all about describing our place within the Natural World in this location and experiential frame-work; I am guided by the foot-steps of giants. Pleasingly I live at the foot of Cribarth, the Sleeping Giant mountain, which rounds that train of thought off nicely.

Anthony Caro

Anthony Caro was also on show at YSP, with lots of fab models and a few sculptures that got to me because they played with contained space and were beautifully made.

Anthony Caro

The carvings of Hepworth and Moore are beyond beautiful. The ethos of Truth To Materials, held by their group of artist colleagues for some years, shines out especially in the wood pieces. I took this idea very much to heart as an intense teenager. Clay comes in a multitude of disguises, no single one speaking for all clay. Each blend of wild clays has it’s own characteristics to be celebrated. I still honour my material and work for it. It is a powerful material fully aware of the ties that bind us to it. It has shaped us and our societies countless times over the Millenia.

Barbara Hepworth

Henry Moore

Barbara Hepworth, carving in wood and some of her plaster-work tools.

Barbara Hepworth used lines of string or steel to follow the forces running through the forms. Henry Moore often cut lines into the surface. Both are such bold and fantastically effective things to do in certain circumstances. Working from these examples I’ve been using repeated patterns of texture or curves to achieve the same thing with various degrees of success.

Barbara Hepworth

Here’s some other images of beautiful sculptures from Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, some taken by me and many collected from the internet. My thanks to the photographers and I am sorry I do not have your names.

Barbara Hepworth, Figure (Archaean), 1959. The name derives from the ancient Greek word for beginning or origin. The Archaean period saw the emergence of life on earth. Hepworth was very drawn to standing stones and felt a connection as a sculptor to the people who had been compelled to put them up. She often talked about how a person out in a landscape was a sculpture and part of the landscape. She saw her sculptures as living people. Not in a crazy way but in that her work was not done until the form was imbued with life. Over time her relationship with that piece would evolve and change, just as it does with other living beings.

Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have this part of The Hepworth, Wakefield as your living room?

Barbara Hepworth, Single Form (Chun Quoit), 1961. Chun Quoit is a Neolithic chamber tomb in the beautiful landscape between St Ives and Land’s End (Cornwall, UK), an area that had a profound effect on Hepworth. It was created with her friend Dag Hammarskjold in mind. When he died not long afterwards she made the stunning, 3metre high version for the new United Nations Secretariat Building in New York City. I can’t deny that I get a kick out of this wonderful sculpture being made and installed there in the year of my birth in NYC!

Barbara Hepworth.

Here is a charming video with some lovely footage of Hepworth working made by the Kroller-Muller Museum: Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture for a Modern World.

Henry Moore.

Henry Moore

Barbara Hepworth

Henry Moore

Barbara Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth at work.

Barbara Hepworth

Henry Moore at work.

Barbara Hepworth at work

Henry Moore

International Ceramics Festival 2015.

July 8, 2015 by Rebecca Buck

Demonstrations. Ceramists from all over the world do several 45 minute demos/interviews to the hall and then you can visit them at their work space to see more closely what they are doing.

A key factor of South Wales Potters is generosity. For 50 years SWP has been a platform for sharing skills, equipment and opportunities not only amongst members but with anyone we can. Every 2 years SWP, North Wales Potters and Aberystwyth University throw Europe’s biggest clay-party the International Ceramics Festival. I’ve been before, working, but this time lovely SWP members Phil Hughes and Kay Milward gave me a ticket and a room and I was free to wander from one fascinating, challenging, eye-opening, reassuring, encouraging lecture, demo, and conversation to the next. And then SWP Cocktails with Mary Cousins and dancing!

Tony Clennell, Canada.

Lisa Hammond, UK.

Tip Toland, USA.

Lisa Hammond, UK.

John Higgins, UK.

Naidee Changmoh, Thailand.

John Higgins, UK.

Jo Taylor, UK.

There was kiln building and firing.

Rita Gudino, Philippines.

Joe Finch

York Art Gallery Centre of Ceramic Art, CoCA.

Helen Walsh from York Art Gallery gave a really interesting talk about the new building and plans for their Centre of Ceramic Art, a fabulous new extension to the Museum opening this August. It’s especially great to see that happening in these pessimistic days. It is going to be wonderful, with imaginative exhibitions, a selling Gallery, a working studio, archives, an educational program and academic research.

Lanty Ball.

One of the high-lights for me was the Emerging Makers presentation. A very diverse and inspiring group of young people were hoping to go on a Residency at the awesome Archie Bray Foundation in the USA. I was so pleased when Lanty Ball was chosen. His committed, thoughtful and sensitive approach to craftsmanship and expression was a joy to see. His pots are very beautiful.

Lanty Ball

Lanty Ball.

The atmosphere at the closing ceremony was very warm, a thousand clay-people loving the work they are dedicated to and respecting and celebrating their peers.

Mary Cousins and Frank Hamer from South Wales Potters.

The closing ceremony.

Enflamed at Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York.

June 29, 2015 by Rebecca Buck

Being invited to join this beautiful, sensuous, soul-reaching collection made my day. Some of my favourite Ceramists like Melanie Ferguson and Monique Rutherford show with Cavin-Morris Gallery. Their introduction to their site made my week;

“Cavin-Morris Gallery has been exhibiting world artists for 30 years. We specialise in the work of self-taught artists whose work is made independently of the art world canon yet participates equally on the wall or pedestal. We represent the new generation of self-taught artists whose work remains authentic and visionary while representative of contemporary times. We also feature important works from preceding generations of self-taught artists including Jon Serl, Bill Traylor and Emery Blagdon.

We show an eclectic selection of tribal art from all the major regions of the world focusing on the unusual and the formally surprising.

Another focus is on textiles of the world, including South East Asian costumes an textiles including tribal China, and Japanese Boros: futon covers made over a period of a hundred years from cotton patches and threads.

Our newest department is a developing interest in Contemporary ceramics both functional and non-functional. We are especially interested in the way ceramists push the envelope of traditional form sand cultures. We show Western ceramists as well as Japanese, Chinese and Korean work.

The common thread that connects all this art is its uniqueness, its integrity and authenticity, and its reflection of cultural home-ground. The Contemporary artists we represent extend the continuum established by the self-taught and Tribal artists into a new and exciting multi-tiered arena.”

This article explains it perfectly; ‘A Chelsea Double Feature; Paper Meets Clay On “Homeground’s” Turf’ by Edward M Gomez.

View the stunning Catalogue here.

Melanie Ferguson extraordinary pots encompass the universe and lead you beyond your borders.

11537803_10207311092638469_5240733511911114339_n

Mitch Iburg‘s stunning pots leave me breathless with wonder.

11415505_10207311092438464_4275687813521443238_o

Mitch Iburg. All the mountains of the world are honoured here.

11036801_10207311091838449_4112585105971017011_o

Mitch Iburg.

549403_10207311091798448_721517969248226189_n

Mitch Iburg.

11538109_10207311509888900_605911881687614528_o

Cavin-Morris Gallery.

11406152_10207311509928901_6036651068093316479_o

Sarah Purvey ‘s pot in the for-ground of the beautiful display at Cavin-Morris Gallery.

11144492_10207300600576174_6977688323253127265_o

Simcha Evan-Chen.

11536487_10207311510008903_3648470053000841142_o

Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City, USA.

11125816_10207311509968902_6811371242251941930_o

Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City, USA.

11144951_10207300632456971_5008811582271769390_o

Wyvern V, black ceramic, 26.7 x 50.8 x 25.4 cm. Rebecca Buck.

10985193_10207300632576974_2294998455238573011_o

Wyvern VIII, ceramic, 39 x 71 x 34 cm. Rebecca Buck.

10658835_10207300632176964_1400949773888147250_o

Up Is Down VI, ceramic, 20 x 49 x 31 cm.

11066531_10207300632536973_4455478861361309613_o

Leviathan VI, ceramic, 12.5 x 21 x 8 cm.

11183465_10207311103918751_4946457058384727506_n

This is a selection of images taken by Cavin-Morris Gallery. Go to the Gallery site to see more beautifully presented photographs of these Artist’s pieces and the other astonishing work by the Artists represented by this exceptional Gallery. The links from each name here on this post will take you to more information about each Ceramist. I will add more images as I get them.

Sculpture by Rebecca Buck at Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City, USA.

Winter Garden

January 14, 2015 by Rebecca Buck

I spend as much time gazing into the garden in winter as I do in summer. I have a lot of bird feeders and I never tire of watching the birds. The Sculptures give the garden structure and a bit of drama, especially in winter.

I test pieces out to see how they look in the different light of the changing seasons. I know they are all completely weather-proof but it is reassuring to put them up against the harsh Brecon Beacons winter.

Parts of the garden that were loveliest in summer can look a random mess in winter and the Sculpture can detract from that.

This slightly crazy looking Harbinger was a technical test piece that got exploded into smithereens subsequently giving me the opportunity to test some fixing-materials. Like all the sculptures it is hollow and I hope Bees might take it over. It is 130 cm high and stands straight on the earth. If a piece needs raising up I try and make the plinths double up as toad or hedgehog homes. It’s working because I have both living here and almost no problems with slugs at all! These days I add holes and spaces in all my sculptures for insects to rest in and my garden is always full of bees , especially Bumble Bees.

Studio Diary, The Tumble Commission Finale.

November 6, 2014 by Rebecca Buck

The Celebration Day at Gwalia Mynydd Mawr, 5 November 2014

A perfect , clear blue day for the un-veiling of the Sculpture and a celebration of the whole Project and all the lovely, dedicated people who were involved from Arts Care Gofal Celf, Gwalia, the Primary schools in the area and the extraordinary Staff and Residents at Gwalia Mynydd Mawr.

The video here describes the whole project:

Mynydd Mawr Courtyard Sculpture, 2m h x 190cm w, 2014.

Studio Diary ,The Tumble Commission pt 7; Installation.

October 15, 2014 by Rebecca Buck

From the outset the many people from Arts Care Gofal Celf, Gwalia and Mynydd Marw involved in this 2 year , multi-fasceted, Baring Foundation ‘Yma a Nawr’ project have put in their all to make it out-standing. After the excellent Installation of the Sirhowy Wyvern I knew that Andrew Preece and his team at Smartfix Property Maintenance would also do whatever it takes to make this Sculpture look fantastic. They are incredibly picky and fastidious, it’s marvellous. Best materials,committed craftsmanship, and they always stick to the Budget no matter how much extra time they have to put in.

Smartfix Property Maintenance at Mynnyd Mawr, Tumble

Smartfix Property Maintenance at Mynydd Mawr, Tumble

Moving the heavy sections around meant 4 men had to be on site.

The 2 bottom sections are lowered over rebars set into the solid plinth and foundations.

It was critical to get the position of these first sections correct.

The sections are filled with concrete and left overnight to set.

Once everything has set the supports can be removed and the joints pointed.

The charming tiles, made by pupils at Llannon Primary School and residents at Mynnyd Mawr are laid out in a measured pattern.

The charming tiles, made by pupils at Llannon Primary School and residents at Mynydd Mawr are laid out in a measured pattern.

Andrew and Phil set the tiles.

I did the glass with Andrew.

Studio Diary, Landscape Project, pt 5.

September 25, 2014 by Rebecca Buck

The Leviathan in progress, Sept 2014

Frame-works for The Wyvern IV and, in the back ground, The Leviathan.

The second framework has become the Leviathan, the guardian of the Aquasphere as The Wyvern is the guardian of the Lithosphere. I will make more versions. These will have a pale gold colour. Next I will make a larger Osprey, guardian of thew Atmosphere, in the same clay(Scarva ES50 Crank) and then move to the black clays and re-do the set.

The Leviathan in progress, Sept 2014.

The Wyvern and The Leviathan. in progress, Sept 2014.

Rebecca Buck

Osprey Studios, contemporary sculpture. Phone: 07913743457

Tag Archives: Frost proof Sculpture

Studio Diary: The Marking Time Sculpture at Bronllys Hospital, Powys.part 3.

Studio Diary: The Marking Time Sculpture at Bronllys Hospital, Powys.part 2.

How to Coil-build with clay from small to monumental.

Studio Diary, Reflecting on Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore.

International Ceramics Festival 2015.

Enflamed at Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York.

Winter Garden

Studio Diary, The Tumble Commission Finale.

Studio Diary ,The Tumble Commission pt 7; Installation.

Studio Diary, Landscape Project, pt 5.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: