Clay. Dissension into Chaos

Culture & Context

This piece was a social  comment on the homelessness that existed in Ireland in January 2017. The Apollo House situation where a vacant building was taken over in Dublin to house homeless people during a very cold winter. 

Statement:

To some, it seems the world is in a state of chaos with great uncertainty and political upheaval everywhere. ‘Dissension Into Chaos’ has a political narrative, it is a social comment on the current state of affairs on both a national and international scale, but while it appears we are going through a very dark time in history, we are just going through a time of great change. Whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking, an opportunity for creativity and growth. We must re-assess and re-evaluate how we live our lives and I have no doubt, if we learn from the past and deal with this turmoil in the correct way, our world will be a better place to live in…chaos is the inspiration! 

Friedrich Nietzsche once said “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

Process & Production

This piece was created during a 3 month residency at The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan.

The facilities allowed for a large piece to be made and I used local Taiwan Red Clay and porcelain that was produced in Japan.

Recipe Details

Local clays used. Unglazed elements in the piece and porcelain slip sprayed on  the upper piece instead of a glaze.