Clay Comrades
Following the ‘Opening Up, Moving In, Moving On’ conference in October 2017 a report collating and reflecting the learning from the conference was produced and presented by the Comrades during a conference at Centre of Ceramic Art, York Art Gallery alongside a poster.
March 2018
As part of the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) Festival 2017 the Clay Comrades hosted a conference ‘Opening Up, Moving In, Moving On’. The purpose was to bring together a range of participants with a wide variety of experience of shared studios.
27th Oct 2017
The day culminated in an event where the Comrades and participants of the conference were hosted on the Spode site in Building 7, for a bring and share meal by Artist Rebecca Davies. Prior to the event Rebecca spent time with the Comrades in the studio drawing the equipment and goings on. These images decorated the room.
Pitfest a 3 day pit firing taking place in a member’s garden. This was an opportunity for the collective to experiment with pit-firing developing their practice collectively.
August 2017
To support Stoke-on-Trent’s City of Culture bid 2021 the Clay Comrades installed a ‘Clay Pavement’ with the help of the passing public down Piccadilly, an area in Hanley, City Centre.
Prior to the event a series for rolling pins and stamps were made. The installation itself was created with terracotta which was cut on site into slabs.
29th April 2017
This was the first commission the Clay Comrades were part of. They took on the challenge to create a clay garden at festival park. It was part of an event to mark 30 years since the garden festival took place on the site.
In the run up to the weekend long event, the Comrades created and collected clay objects and artifacts to become part of the garden. They, alongside Joanne Ayre, studio manager ran workshops with the Jubilee Group, St Peters Academy and The City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College.
The weekend opened with a night walk on the Friday before full day programmes on the Saturday and Sunday 16-18th September 2016.
