Thursday, January 19, 2012

the Casting has begun!

its time to MAKE things happen, and so the crumbling ecologies project begins! Makers, Crafters and Artists its time to GATHER!



















It is a new year, and the Crumbling Ecologies Project has finally begun.


The first casting session was with Sharon (RMIT Textiles) and Jess (Monash Visual Arts-Painting). We had a very productive session and filled the entire kiln with Geraniums. They are cooking as I write! I can't wait till they are ready in a few days.
The next casting roster is up, we have had a little re-jig with some of the times due to public holidays, so there are some new times available next week- http://whenisgood.net/37ytmsp.

Jess and Sharon's bios and artist details will be up on the website soon.

1 comment:

  1. The horse has already bolted.
    The crumbling educational institutional support for the Crafts has been an international trend for many years. Sweden/Denmark/others are now looking looking at how to create and sustain ceramic practices (while 4th on themes, it dominated a recent international ceramics symposium: see http://www.ics2011.com/themes.htm)

    In Australia the decline actually started nearly 30 years ago when the Federal Productivity Commission advocated the progressive reduction of tariffs for a lot of uncompetitive industries, including pottery. Craft-centric educational institutions have been slow to respond to the resulting collapse of the industry, perhaps due to their inherently conservative nature and lack of exposure to market forces. I researched for 6 months and published a paper in Pottery in Australia back in 1997 outlining a solution you will not like (see http://grahamhay.com.au/hay1997counting.html). International ceramic expert Garth Clark has been speaking and writing for years that ceramics must carefully embrace Art, to survive these forces. Here in WA, we have a smaller population so these declines and trends appeared well before eastern Australia. No university nor TAFE has provided a ceramic major qualification on a sustained basis for years. Yet I an many others survive full time on our studio and ceramic teaching income, just not always within state government institutions.

    Your project will provide a useful focal point for both educators and future practitioners to identify the current situation in Melbourne more clearly, and hopefully plot individual and collective courses of action that are hopefully proactive, rather than reactive. I wish you well in your creative and social endeavour.

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