Brian Gartside, New Zealand, makes simple
forms which are altered and reworked,
and transformed by colour using all
manner of techniques from dipping to
printing. At the Festival he also
demonstrated the making of paper
clay and
lectured on computer-aided design.
Jim Robison watched.
Runaway thoughts on water
Humour and inventiveness, a willingness to take a chance, rejection of the straight- line approach is what Edward de Bono calls lateral thinking. Referring to de Bono's recent book I'm Right, You're Wrong, Brian Gartside illustrated 'fluid thought' with a bucket of water and a piece of clay.If you put several lumps of clay into a bucket, you can count them, pick them out and consider them one by one. But if you put several cups of water into a bucket instead, the question 'how many waters do I have' becomes more difficult to answer. And if you pour the water out, it moves freely into cracks, around objects, over, under, through everything in its path. His suggestion is that similar, freely-moving thought processes should be applied to our making efforts.
By asking the question 'what are the basics,' we look again at what we do. Perhaps clay is a product of all the elements - earth, air, fire and water – but Brian Gartside suggested that the most significant element is the water. In practical terms, moisture content is crucial to clay in all of its stages, from forming to firing. But it also becomes symbolic of the creative thought processes we seek to employ during our productive cycles.
In simplest terms, his demonstration involved blending paper pulp and clay slip, drying the mixture on plaster batts and using the resulting slabs for construction. In more subtle ways he opened our eyes to fresh opportunities and a more open-ended methodology. I had expected rather more discussion about the fibre and rag content of papers mulched and added to the clay: his use of the common bog roll came as a surprise, as did the lack of specificity about properties of particular clays. The fresh clay/paper mixture behaved a bit like papier-mâché - in need of some support while wet. But when the mixture was used in slabs, the paper addition produced the extraordinary characteristic of being workable, able to accept attachments and joints when dry, and having great strength in an unfired state.
Brian amused us all by combining elements of his travel to Wales with his demonstration, producing a suitcase filled with dry paper/clay sheets prepared in advance. Surprisingly light and strong, they survived the rigours of air travel and could be joined with the freshly-mixed clay / paper slip. He suggested the next step in his demonstration could be to construct a suitcase complete with straps and a handle to be carried off for firing and, possibly, the flight home. Unfortunately, lack of time- discouraged him from this undertaking. Perhaps the suitcase is a good analogy for the nature of events such as the Festival: we fly in with our own pre-conceived baggage, then we fly home again with additional baggage, fresh ideas and new experiences jostling for space.