City of Bath College   2009/2010

Emma Finch

The AA2A scheme allowed me to develop a set of ideas I wanted to explore but had not done so due to the level of experimentation it would involve using, as it involved two techniques I hadn’t used before. Being in a college environment allowed me to access the attitude I needed in order to take the risks and allow for failures without being precious. I had superb support from the head of the department, teachers and technician. Once I started, I wish I had had more time to extend my brief and explore other areas.

I made a series of domestic pieces, Teapots, Coffee pots, jugs and beakers. All on the theme of ‘anti-war’ – using a piece at The Holburne Museum of Art in Bath as a starting point: An Ivory tankard with silver-gilt mounts carved in high relief with the Rape of the Sabines. The domed cover has a bifurcated thumb piece and is surmounted by an ivory figure of a Roman soldier carrying off a Sabine woman. The Sabine women have come to symbolize reconciliation and a peace-force in the face of unrest and war.

I slip-cast the vessels in white earthenware, high firing some, so that they vitrified, and didn’t require glaze, to mimic the ivory finish. I then developed the theme to include screen-printed under-glaze images and on-glaze decals.