Thoughts on a first semester - free making

I wrote a post back in October 2015 (on the WordPress blog) reflecting on how I was in the thick of things on the MA - with lectures, demos and briefs all under my belt. I said I'd had a hint of the overwhelming effort and work that was just waiting for me over the horizon... Looking back on that post now, I realise that things have actually been a lot easier than I had expected.  However, I know that this is because for the first couple of months I have allowed myself to amble along, concentrating much more on 'making' and getting back into working with clay again rather than writing up my ideas and plans. Much of my 'reflective diary' has remained inside of my head and academic research has involved a great deal of reading but very little writing up. I've been pushing the aforementioned 'horizon' further into the distance.  I'm not sure this is a bad thing. We all work in different ways after all - and I do think that I spend a lot of time mulling things over before I feel happy to commit an idea to paper. (I need to get into better habits with the diary though. I feel a New Year's resolution coming on)

On looking back at Semester 1, one of the most surprising things has been the extent to which my enjoyment of using the material has been revitalised by the practical classes. More than this, I've felt my perspective on making has changed and going back over basic techniques: coiling, slab-building, glazing, casting, firing, etc. with new instruction (along with students who are new to clay) has really made me reconsider and question my intended direction. Wendy's classes have been a strong influence on this. I've appreciated being guided by someone who has such an original approach to working with ceramic materials. Wendy has totally thrown away the rule book and developed her own, unique methods of working. This has allowed her complete freedom of expression in designing and making her artwork.  This philosophy - and a renewed appreciation of what is really meant by 'form' - are two of the major things that I will take away from this first semester. My (personal) favourite and most successful work has come out of the sessions with Wendy where we had no brief, no research to carry out - were just told to pick up the clay and go...  This isn't how I want to always work and it certainly isn't an appropriate method of producing work for my MA (at least it doesn't feel appropriate just now) but I do need to add some of this freedom of expression into my design and making processes somehow. I have definitely glimpsed another part of my creative self over the past couple of months so the cat's out of the bag now :-)