One of my assignments this year was to work on a student exhibition. I chose to do this module in order to learn valuable curatorial skills and what organizing an exhibition actually entailed.
I chose to be part of the marketing team, but we were all collectively responsible for the exhibition as a whole, as well as our individual cases, so it was a very inter-disciplinary assignment.
We worked in Paisley museum, selecting pieces from their collection of twentieth-century studio ceramics that we felt fit our objective. For all of us it transformed our conceptions of what studio ceramics really were (on the whole we had the 'brown pot' tradition in mind). We learnt about the significance of the audience and labeling and how these were to be interpreted depending on the institution you worked in.
Paisley Museum holds the largest collection of studio ceramics in Scotland, perhaps Britain.
Our exhibition The Potters' Process opened on Thursday last, the 28th of April, the culmination of months of hard work.
Installation -
Completion -
(Introductory cases, including the key piece from the exhibition, James Towers' Shell Form)
Example of labels.
The Potter's Trail, conceived for children, to interact with the exhibition
My case covered the decorative technique of incising the ceramic. It contained pieces by Bernard Leach, Lucy Rie, Jason Shackleton and Ian Pirie.
Opening -
It was so warm in the ceramics gallery that some of our nibbles couldn't stand the heat and fused together!
I was quite busy at the opening, so I didn't take many pictures.
I am relieved its all over now though, a lot of stress! I had two reports to hand in on the exhibition yesterday, they probably weren't very good, the assignment had vague guidelines. BUT its over!
Here is the link to The Potters' Process, including information and directions, if you're in and around Glasgow or Paisley this summer!
