The Leach Pottery held a zoom event on Friday 6th May with 70 attending, entitled ‘Ceramic Practice as a Medium of Change and Resistance’. It only cost £3 to participate.
What could the title mean?
Libby Buckley, director at The Leach introduced the day and Tanya Harod then presented the various speakers.
There was mention of the politics of work, that self employment can be, ‘a cruel parody of freedom.’
Rita Floyd was shown repeatedly hand-making and discarding porcelain flowers as part of Neil Brownsword’s project to memorialise old processes.
Jarah Das spoke of how Cardew set up a pottery in Nigeria under colonial rule. Community pottery such as that of Ladi Kwali met English studio pottery. ‘Overbearing colonial practices’ were mentioned.
Recently there have been free workshops for black people at Camden Arts centre, prompting me to ask if there could be free workshops at The Leach for the community around it which contains many people on very low incomes.
We have lost a lot of craft courses in UK. How can skills be nurtured? Should exhibitions be free to see? Many questions were posed.
Edmund de Waal then gave a very coherent, moving explanation of some of his work in which he has shown the effects of nazi persecution in Paris on his Jewish ancestors. He uses arrangements of simple porcelain vessels but also has shown a collection of books from 80 countries about migration. I asked what his thoughts were on Palestine and he expressed his deep dissatisfaction with Israeli government actions there but is also involved in making a work in cooperation with libraries in Israel.
There were opportunities to meet in small break out rooms which meant participants saw and heard a few of the audience. Questions could be put and views expressed in the chat online although hardly anyone used the latter.
The last part was the most jargon ridden and about the political idea of ‘craft as commons.’ I thought and said that more usually used language such as sharing and co operation could better be used. I felt there was a rephrasing of my question to take the word socialism out and replace it with ‘social’ and that there was a good deal of gentle pussy footing around
the politics. However all sorts of questions were put.
If it all sounds a bit strange I think it was - a very surprising look at ceramics.
One woman summed up the gulf between theory and her experience by wondering how her attempts to make a living by making tableware could possibly change the world.
This was an event full of surprises and ideas and I thought it was worthwhile.
Photo of Libby Biuckley introducing the zoom event.
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