Congratulations to Ethan, our first ever Community Arts Apprentice who’s just graduated in Ceramics from Cardiff School of Art & Design.
Not only that, he was also presented with the Alun Barratt-Danes Technical Excellence Award for his graduate work.
Although the class of 2020 were unable to mount a physical degree show due to the epidemic, students were required to publish an online exhibition of their work.
Here’s what Ethan has to say about his work and motivation as he steps out into the world of professional practice:
“In this body of work, I wanted to know if the experience of seeing, handling and using a fired pot could be as contemplative an experience as making it. When I make a pot, I rely on my skills to take me through the process, however I am not guided by them. I try to follow my intuition and that of the material in the hopes of producing vessels with spontaneity and vitality. In my practice I try to harmonise the qualities of mark making on raw clay and applying slips with the glazes I create though I don’t shy away from aesthetic dissonance. I simply see it as an opportunity for more personal reflection. Within the studio I have come to value gathering local materials to use as glazes, such as slate and sand from the River Taff and wood ash from my childhood home. I find cleaning and curating the studio space to be both calming and clarifying. In that sense the habits of making show me a reflection of my own human nature. Thus, in the aesthetic choices we make when we curate the objects in our home and our lives there is an opportunity to abstract the qualities of our deepest human nature through contemplation.”
The future looks pretty good for Ethan in these testing times – he’s secured employment for September as a Studio Technician at an Oxford school. Good work Ethan and we look forward to seeing you develop as a maker.