Processing clay and indigo
Collection of small clay head experiments
I been shaping some small heads with the clay, experimenting with different textures, colours and finishes.
Each face is different despite seeking some form of uniformity. This seems to allow a level of play where some characters start to become real people. Whilst I shape these I am asking myself, who are you? as if they are faces from another age or time. I am allowing these faces to reveal themselves to me rather than me finding a specific character I have in mind.
The clay finishes up a deep navy almost black which I am in love with. There is something so alluring about this tone, it has a depth almost space like reminding me of Junichirō Tanizaki’s 1934 essay In Praise of Shadows. Beauty in shadows: ‘We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates… Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty’.
A hole is dug and cleared of stones and dirt, then filled with dry clay soil and processed with our feet by treading. A small amount of water can be added but it has a moisture content that seems to arrive naturally once worked - as if it is being activated and it’s been laying dormant, waiting to be brought back to life by human touch. I feel the clay is awaiting interaction, wanting to be given form, purpose and life. The clay is removed and left on banana leaves to cure for until tomorrow. It feels therapeutic. ‘I could do this forever’ says River (11 years old) to her Papa. there is a silence whilst we each resonate with the deeper truth within this statement.
Next we add 2kg of liquid indigo paste into the clay. The clay turns oily blue, a deep navy starts spreading into the fiery read earth and turning more and more into a kind of grey-green earthy blue, a colour I dont often come across, yet still so natural.