Abstract

This research is initiated through an examination and mapping of the
contemporary ceramics discourse within the United Kingdom and is situated
from 1994 until the completion of my PhD study in 2014. This analysis of the
practical and theoretical fields of ceramics practice provides a framework
within which my own education and development as a practising artist can be
measured and authenticated whilst providing a critical overview of the
changing critical landscape of ceramics discourse over the last twenty years.
Ceramics as an expanded field is evidenced through case studies of artist
peers; and interviews with key critics, writers and curators. It introduces the
positions of the post-studio and post-disciplinary practitioner as paradigms of
practice that acknowledge an artists’ capacity to operate within the field of
ceramics, utilising a multitude of approaches, media and mediums.
The practical element of the research is developed outside of the studio within
the context of the museum and its collection. This is embodied by employing a
bricolage methodology that identifies the artist as an individual who ‘works
between and within competing and overlapping perspectives and paradigms’
(Denzin and Lincoln, 1994).
The resulting practical outputs of Last Supper at the Glynn Vivian, 12 People
12 Objects and Teatime at the Museum created through the mediums of film
and photography are presented as both completed works and constituent
elements of contemporary ceramics practice. They offer an original
contribution to knowledge by presenting an adjustable model of engagement
with the ceramic object and collection implemented by the post-disciplinary,
post-studio practitioner in collaboration with the institution and curator.