Kim Foale Mentorship

 

Hello my friendly Blog Watchers!  Over the past month I have started a summer mentorship with talented Hobart ceramicist and president of the Tasmanian Ceramics Association Kim Foale.  She is an inspirational force of nature and I'm very lucky to be soaking up her knowledge, insights and process. 

To take you along on my ceramics journey, I thought I'd show you some of the things we looked at this week:

Scraffito (work by Adriana Christianson)Scratching into leatherhard greenware coated in underglaze (the red is underglaze hand painting)

Unglazed finish (Road-kill Quoll by Eve Howard)

"The Scarlet Slip" and how it takes differently to stoneware and Porcelain (cups by Kim Foale)

Woodfiring (Work by Lise Edwards)

Painting onto stoneware with porcelain slip and iron oxide unglazed and clear-glazed (Kim Foale)

Experimenting using slip dots to make feet (Kim Foale)

 

Kim's favourite piece of driftwood pattern-maker

A skull of approval will be stamped into all the work Kim is happy with

Some Greenware awaiting the Kiln

Kim is a prolific social media commentator and uses her ceramic work to explore political and philosophical themes.  For her pattern-making she uses plastic gathered from the bellies of seabirds.  Her “Ten Women on Twitter Bowls” immortalised tweets in response to Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech.  She also talked to me about her interest in the concept of creating something permanent from something as impermanent as a tweet.  These ceramic tampons were created in response to the humiliating conditions of women held in Australian detention centers who are forced to ask for sanitary products which are only offered a few at a time by guards. http://www.mamamia.com.au/asylum-seekers-hub/share-send-scott-morrison-tampons-asylum-seekers/

Kim is great and I eagerly look forward to all the time I share with her.  Much more making in the makings!