CERAMIC PORTFOLIO
The following page contains documentation of the clay based elements of my practice, including finished artwork, ongoing experimentation and recorded processes.
Ceramic Library, Cheeseburn Sculpture Gardens 2021
An installation of eighty-one tablets using clay from nine locations in Northumberland, fired at nine different temperatures (600 - 1300c)
Colin Davison
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Curator's Choice Leeds Arts University 2020
The base of this work is a painted clay plaster.
Colin Davison
This work was damaged when stormwater entered the cabinet. I love how this ‘activated’ the objects and would like to create installations that purposefully use unfired clay and water to explore impermanence.
Studio views and work in progress.
Glaze and glass experiments using Northumbrain clays, various types of ash and other collected materials.
Testing Northumbrian clays as slips to create clay or ceramic paintings.
Clay and wool tablet, investigating structural strength.
Clay positive of a cup and ring carving at Blawearie.
Colin Davison
I also use ceramics to make tools for working with other materials. In this case an alembic to distil oils and perfumes from Northumbrian botanics.
Sourcing and processing of clay
Collecting clay from a streambank at Roughting Linn, not far from Wooler.
Once dried, I crush the clay into small pieces and slake down in water. This will then be sieved to various grades depending on the intended use.
Clay can then be used as slip or dried on plaster bats and kneaded to a workable consistency.
Finally clay is fired. I use a mixture of electric, gas and wood fired processes to achieve varying results.