Ceramics and Lockdown - Performance

An exploration of how ceramics performance adapted in lockdown with Andrew Livingstone, Claire McLaughlin and Angela Tait. A final talk, by Moira Vincentelli, will look back at some of the spectacular performances from past International Ceramics Festivals in Aberystwyth, and will form an introduction to the live streamed event on Saturday, which all symposia attendees are invited to tune in to (further details below).

The symposia has been developed by Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) Subject Specialist Network at York Art Gallery, in partnership with the of the International Ceramics Festival at Aberystwyth, and is supported by Arts Council England. It is part of a symposia series that commenced in 2019 to explore and discuss key issues facing the ceramics community. For more information about CoCA's work visit: centreofceramicart.org.uk

---

Programme

2 July 2021 - 16.00-18:15 (GMT+1)

4.00 - Welcome, Dr Helen Walsh, Curator of Ceramics, CoCA, York Art Gallery

4.05 - Programme introduction, Moira Vincentelli, Emeritus Professor and Consulting Curator of Ceramics at Aberystwyth University

4.10 – Performing Jeju Scoria: imagined realities and extended vocabularies, Andrew Livingstone, Professor of Ceramics at the University of Sunderland

As a result of the Covid19 pandemic, alternative solutions for research and practice are being considered and implemented. This is the case with this international research project that was to take place in The Republic of Korea on the Island of Jeju in August 2020. In respect of travel limitations the project was executed within the UK in November 2020.

This presentation will demonstrate practice-based research undertaken as part of the project, The Clay Reader: Scoria, Scoria Jeju Scoria. It explores the notion and actualities of remote investigation through imagined interpretation and responses to a material and its land of origin.

4.35 - Questions for Andrew Livingstone

4.40 – Song in a Teacup, Claire McLaughlin, Artist and Researcher

With the lockdowns we found ourselves back in our homes. Singing sessions were forced to move from regular meetings in the pub back to the kitchen, from whence they traditionally came. In the tessellated Zoom screen of the singing circle I am a part of, I have been observing with interest the singers in their domestic setting often surrounded by their china, regularly sipping from their favourite cup. This has been a rich source of inspiration.

5.05 - Questions for Claire McLaughlin

5.10 - 5 minute comfort break

5.15 – COVID Clay Diary, Angela Tait, Sculptor and Researcher

The clay diary was started in March 2020 on the cusp of the nationwide lockdown in the UK. Every day for 90 days Angela made a cup which responded to her personal experience and some of the wider social, cultural or political events as they unfolded. What transpired was a document of a remarkable time through the medium of ceramics.

Whilst this is an autobiographical account, many of the themes are experienced universally or trigger a familiar response in a viewer; the changing of routine, communicating differently and a new way of experiencing time.

Angela will also be performing her work, ‘Smalls’ on 3rd July 2021 in Aberystwyth as part of the International Ceramics Festival (see below for more information).

5.40 - Questions for Angela Tait

5.45 – Performing Ceramics at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, Moira Vincentelli

Demonstrations of ceramics, especially wheel throwing, have been part of history for at least a century. They are always, in some aspects – a performance. The presentation will consider some of the memorable performance events and demonstrations that have taken place at the festival: including spectacular kiln firings, from the traditional to the experimental, baths of clay, potters who burst into song, or offer an Indonesian dance wearing a ceramic mask.

6.05 - Questions for Moira Vincentelli

6.10 - Closing remarks, Dr Helen Walsh, Curator of Ceramics, CoCA, York Art Gallery

---

This event is supported by Arts Council England.

---

Rewind – 30 years of the International Ceramics Festival at Aberystwyth, Saturday 3rd July, 11.00am – 5.00pm ; repeated run 5.30pm – 11.30pm (GMT + 1)

This will be a blended event with some live streaming from Aberystwyth interspersed with archived material from past festivals. We will welcome back on line old friends – our presenters, Jim Robison and Ingrid Murphy, and Steve Mattison a founding member of the festival and its coordinator and director 1991-2004.

There will be a more detailed timetable available nearer the event.

Angela Tait will perform live her piece called - ''Smalls'.

Wendy Lawrence will continue working on the community mural which was started in May at the Hub, Community Centre, Aberystwyth.

Everyone who registers to attend the 'Ceramics and Lockdown - Performance' symposia will be sent joining instructions for Rewind.

---

Who are the speakers?

Andrew Livingstone is Professor of Ceramics at the University of Sunderland where he leads CARCuos the Ceramic Arts Research Centre. Andrew has authored and contributed to numerous books including The Ceramics Reader, published by Bloomsbury Academic Press. His exhibitions include The Smithsonian Institute and the Garth Clark Gallery, New York.

Claire McLaughlin studied at the University of Ulster in Belfast and at the Royal College of Art in London where she received her MA in Ceramics & Glass in 1997. From 2000-2019, she lectured in Ceramics, Art and Design at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. Recently, she has been researching Song and Ceramics towards a PhD at the University of Sunderland.

Angela Tait is a sculptor who works primarily in the medium of clay. Her research concerns rhythm, time and daily domestic experience which she explores through the universally understandable form of the vessel. She works at the University of Salford as Academic Fellow on the BA (Hons) Fine Art.

Moira Vincentelli is Emeritus Professor and Consulting Curator of Ceramics at Aberystwyth University. She is one of the directors of the International Ceramics Festival, an organisation with which she has worked since its beginnings. She is also a member of the CoCA steering committee.

---

Tickets for the symposia are free. In respect of the time, effort and public funding that have gone in to developing the programme, you are expected to attend if you book a ticket. If for any reason you are unable to attend we ask that you cancel your ticket, so your place can be taken up by someone else. Thank you.

--