Exhibition · Gray's School of Art · 2022–23
GiR and Masters students. Two material traditions. One space, dressed like it meant something.
The problem
A year of residency work needed a show, and the honest version of that year was mostly tests — the sort of thing a graduate exhibition usually hides.
What I made
A show that left the tests in, with multanni mitti and British stoneware side by side.
What made it hard
An end-of-programme show shared with the Masters cohort, holding work at two different stages and two material traditions.
The turn
Glaze tests, material samples and a few things that didn't fire how I expected all stayed in the display. If you only show finished pieces you are only showing half the practice, and in material research the interesting half is usually the other one. That decision set how the space was dressed: the show reads as the result of the year rather than a summary of it, which is a different thing and a more honest one.
The Show
BLEND was the end-of-programme show for the Graduate in Residence cohort at Gray's, shown at the same time as the Masters students. GiR and postgrad work in the same space — different stages, same building, see what happens.
It was the natural end of a year of mentoring students, developing my own practice, and figuring out what kind of ceramicist I actually wanted to be. The show was the result of all that, not a summary of it.
The Work
I showed the multanni mitti work alongside British stoneware — test pieces and finished objects together. The two glazes I'd been developing through the residency were the main focus. Both needed more time, but that's always the case.
The test pieces stayed in. Glaze tests, material samples, a few things that didn't fire how I expected — all of it was part of the display. I didn't want to hide the process. The interesting stuff is usually in the tests anyway. If you're only showing finished pieces you're only showing half the practice.
Two Primary Glazes
Primary — developed and refined through the residency
Secondary — contrasting surface quality, same material logic
The Space
Spatial Reference
Not a ceramics display.
More like a high fashion retail floor.
The space was set up with fashion retail in mind — the kind of shop where things have room to breathe and the lighting is considered. Each piece had its own sightline. I didn't stack anything. The intention was to make the ceramics feel like they had value before anyone picked them up. If the display looks like a car boot sale, that's what people think of the work. It doesn't matter how good the pieces are.
The test pieces were shown deliberately. The process was part of the work. — BLEND, Gray's School of Art, 2022–23
Where it landed
Shown at Gray's School of Art in 2022–23 as the end-of-programme exhibition for the Graduate in Residence cohort, alongside the Masters students.
What it unblocked
Putting the tests on a wall turned them into something that could be discussed rather than filed. Both glazes carried straight on into Cycle Arts and Cherry-Vision, and the multanni mitti work found its first public context here before it was ever offered for sale.