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Plymouth College of Art and Design   2006/2007

Sam White

I would like to use PCAD’s facilities to produce large scale ceramic forms inspired by megalithical standing stones and the landscape/ natural environment of the south west of England. These individually sculpted monoliths would primarily be chunky hand built forms, roughly 800mm tall; then reductively sculpted at leather hard to echo eroded standing stones in a timeless landscape. Fired once, slowly in an oxidized atmosphere, before adding a series of oxides onto the surface to bring colour and tone to the textured surface to emphasize and enhance the form. Final firing, again in an electric kiln this time up to 1200*C so the material is impermeable enough to stand up to natures elements. I would like to create between nine and twelve ceramic monoliths which would later come together as part of a larger project in the form of a multiple piece outdoor installation.

As my art work always develops and evolves whilst in the process of creating, I am open to the idea of incorporating other materials. Rusty metal has also been a feature in my sculpture along with site- specific found objects often being used when working spontaneously within the natural landscape.

With the use of PCAD’s ceramics studio and big kilns I would be able to create larger scale sculpture giving my work a stronger visual impact in an outdoor environment. This relates to my current work generally as the ideas and ethoses are the same, just the scale is doubled which would lead to new problems to solve and many fresh challenges to over come.