Art Studio IIIA - Week Four

Tues 21st March

My husband passed away suddenly on the morning of 5th March. A couple of weeks of nothing at all, and this week attempting to get the online Zoom lecture and make a bit of a plan with the tutors.

BRUCE E. PHILLIPS (SCOTLAND), JENNY GILLAM AND EUGENE HANSEN ON ‘WHO CAN THINK, WHAT CAN THINK’ AND THE CHRONICAL OF <___>

Lecture Notes - 



Current Exhition - Who can think, what can think - TeTuhi

Exert form Te Tuhi website - 

"Who can think, what can think is an exhibition that challenges definitions of ‘intelligence’ in relation to human and non-human cognition by embracing understandings of biodiversity and neurodiversity. To question ‘who and what can think’ requires us to confront the troubling history of categorising intelligence that has led to certain groups of people being excluded, controlled and killed, and plants, animals and whole ecosystems being exploited and destroyed. Despite this history, those who worked to understand and value cognitive diversity in all its forms began to influence positive social change. Growing attention to the subjects of biodiversity and neurodiversity has been crucial to such positive change. This exhibition groups a range of artworks that help to address this complex history and to question how these issues influence us today".



Meeting with Simon to discuss the direction of my project

After the passing of my husband, I am wanting to change direction for my project. I find it difficult to think about anything else, so I want to embark on work that will help me with the grief process and  also be meaningful.

I want to make an urn for his ashes - they were given back to us the standard plastic container as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. Its important to me to create something that has meaning and can tell a story about him, either through use of materials and processes or in a figurate way.

At this stage I have identified three different approaches to this - 

Representational
  • Could be traditional form or contemporary approach. 
  • Forms that are relevant/were important to him - the family, river, ocean, native plants and creatures, fishing
  • I envisage this being more colourful, with glazes, maybe using underglaze and clear glaze on the top

Conceptual/Abstract
  • using clay form the local area where his live or visited
  • firing using wood sources from our garden or areas that we visited - driftwood form the beach ect
  • Using materials such as plants, hair, seaweed ect sourced from our home, areas he loved to add pattern and decoration to the work.

Living structure
  • Creating a vessel that is unfired so that the ashes also have a plant incorporated into it, so that it becomes part of the living sculpture that changes over time.

Research

Funeral urns that I have known about or seen previously have been more solemn, and generic without adding much insight into the person they are meant for. I am interested in looking for artists who work with the idea of urns and also with the topic of honouring people after death. I am interested in looking at cultural and historical practices that could be relevant.

Chicago Times article - Funerary Urns as Modern art.




  • To contain and to heal
  • destined for a more visible resting place.
  • more people choosing cremation and is expected to increase.
  • emergence of a field of work of urns as decorative art
  • come in all forms - Small matching sets, to divide ashes amongst family, large sculpture to hold a whole family, matching pairs for couples.
  • each piece is like a person, each has a character (Maureen Lomasney, Sonoma Country Gallery)
  • Growth of cremation - less taboo, less costly than burial, and portability for families who move around a lot
  • The movement is about regaining control of a process that is largely uncontrolable -  " Making artists part of the discussion makes people more comfortable talking about loss, Lomasney said. "We are mainstreaming the topic of death because we are presenting urns as beautiful objects that help people memorialize their loved ones." 
  • Its about personalisation
  • suggesting shift of a basic cultural marker - one more in keeping with global mores regarding the loss of family and friends.
  • only outside of US does death become part of everyday decor (Mexico, Japan)  - Further research area?
  • Bottom line is this art is meant to be seen


Funeria Artists

Christopher Rizzo 

  
Untitled #4
Machined from a solid block of aluminium. 24x20.3 cm, 2.3 kg 67 cubic inch

Jack Thompson

Part of naturals collection - urns made of unfired clay, handmade papers and other materials that will dissolve at varying rates.


Bio rock will be stable in a dry environment but will dissolve into the earth if place in the garden, under a tree, in the forest ect. "it is certainly both a poignant and beautiful means to settle into the earth, in a slow and natural way."


ABOVE LEFT - Bio Rock by Jack Thompson

Cast paper pulp with binder


ABOVE RIGHT - Nueva Vida by Jack Thompson
Painted ceramic urn with lotus flower adornment, 20x20cm, 1.3kg, 67 inch3




Ante Marinovic


 
Seltear 2 
Carved Salt Urn, 30x21cm, 6.8kg, 115in3 capacity


Above - Passage


Jim Connell 


Carved sandblasted lidded clay jars
28x28cm, 2.3 kg, 350 in3


Susan Bach 


Radiant Urns (Tattoo Urns)
Highly patterned and decorative, white earthenware, can include underglaze, low fire glaze, overglaze transfers and gold lustre.

Tony Knapp

 

LEFT - Messenger #2

Wood, ink and cast iron wheelbase 32 x 23 inches/81 x 58 cm,30 lbs/1.4 kg, 45 cubic inch capacity

RIGHT - Girl in Green Spotted Dress
Wood, paint, sumi ink


Mark Gordon

 

LEFT - Burnished Urn #1 
Wheel thrown, Raku-fired, burnished clay

RIGHT - Raku Urn #3
Wheel thrown, Raku Fired, glazed clay

Ashes to Art Exhibition
Run form 2001-2011   'redefining the character, aesthetics and materials used in creating cremation urns, funerary vessels, reliquaries and personal memorial objects to suit 21st century tastes and needs' 




A few examples form Artisurn - handcrafted Urns






Julian Stair - Art, Death and the afterlife

The Sculptor Making Art With Loved Ones' Ashes (hyperallergic.com)




Volunteers donated loved one ashes to become part of the ceramic vessels. Human like forms and curves, taps into ancient practice of using clay to honour our dead.


Julian Stair: Art, Death and the Afterlife - Sainsbury Centre






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