Charlotte
Dawson
Ceramics
In my ceramics practice I work with clay as a material with an intrinsic language. Looking into the history of ceramics, taking influence from archival ceramic pieces and working with clay properties and terminology's as direct inspiration for artworks.
I am often interested in ideas surrounding function within my practice, this particular body of work which takes the form of a collection of glazed ceramic cups plays with the concept of functional artworks. The pieces are inspired by practices within religious spaces, particularly how alternative activity such as coffee mornings take place in the same spaces as prayer. These alternative practices performed by different members of the community sit within a singular space.
The form of these pieced comes from a standard coffee cup mould which was abandoned on a brownfield site in Stoke-on-Trent. One of the many remnants of the ceramics heritage of the city.
I have adapted the original shape to contain a melted tealight candle at the foot of each ceramic piece. The artworks become both a signal of devotion and prayer in the form of a candle and community and care in their function as vessel.
This piece was originally inspired by the writing of Maria Stepanova, in her book 'In Memory of Memory' which explores the complex history of the city of Berlin.
Within her writing she unveils the use of small porcelain dolls named 'Frozen Charlotte's' as packaging materials during the late nineteenth Century, early Twentieth. Due to their mass production as cautionary dolls ,teaching children not to swim in lakes and subsequent over production, relegating them to the use of packaging.
In my piece 'Stock Still' I take this unusual repurposing of material and create a piece where individual ceramic human forms reanimate packaging peanuts. A material which in its original state dissolves in water, here, remade in ceramic these forms fulfil their purpose whilst referencing the hidden body
Hand built ceramic, Terracotta, White Slip.
Inspired by the use of Lampposts as ad-hoc memorials for lost love ones. This piece uses the form of the vase as a vessel for containing flowers and repositions its visuals to represent a roadside memorial.
Until it Cuts two Teeth,
Glazed Ceramic
Taking its title from animal husbandry, Until it cuts two teeth refers to the terminology used in animal produce classification. The work presents a glazed ceramic sculpture of a hog in transition between frozen storage and destination. And is underpinned by concepts of preservation and expansive often poetic language used in animal classification.
The piece also explores the linguistical relations between materials and the body, particularly relating to the use of comparative words to describe processes in ceramics. A 'body of clay', 'leather hard' etc. All of which have direct connotations to living forms.
Carried, Glazed Ceramic.
This pieces explores vessels and their relation to ceramic history. Repositioning the artificial overlooked tributes given to loved ones. The plastic flowers purchased from market stalls. This work plays with the traditional ceramic vase/vessel as a container of floral arrangements. With a more contemporary and lower value floral offering trapped within the vessel of a disposed and drenched carrier bag.