Throughout the three years of uni, childhood has been a running theme in my work. However, it has been in the last term that I have felt the confidence to open up and play. This feels almost ironic to admit, but it has been through the collaboration with others that has made this step possible. It has taught me how difficult and vulnerable play can be for some people, and how important it is to create a safe environment for them to comfortably engage. At the Chip Party, I feel proud to say such an environment was orchestrated. The chips became a sort of language which everyone got involved in. However, we were not able to create such a level of interaction at the Banquet. It was interesting to try and work out what elements of these collaborative events worked effectively and the parts that didn't.

 

Going into the Co-op Academy North Manchester, in January, and putting on a workshop with their primary school children was a big turning point in understanding the value of the interactive work. Unlike the Chip Party and the Barquet entering this new environment, with a different age group, felt like a clean slate having no preconceived association which naturally occurs in the art school. The children's excitement to get involved was really insightful for my practice and, in turn, helped me loosen up and begin to play alongside them. The theme of forgiveness and relearning, which i have been thinking about felt very apt on this workshop day. I felt a new drive to get out there! In March four friends and I collectively began to organise an exhibition named ‘Kitchen Roll’ . The exhibition was about ‘the everyday’ and I planned to lay my ceramics across the floor to trail people across the room. Sadly this never occurred due to Covid-19. However, on reflection if the exhibition was to occur, when the quarantine is lifted, I feel unsure whether this would be the most effective element to exhibit. With a rise in confidence, and an increase in collaborative work this interactive style of creation has taken a promental role next to ceramics. The two feel symbiotic. Interactive pieces feel like a more useful tool of communication, literally using the transaction of food as a form of language. But, for me, on a personal level the ceramic pieces feel deeply important, almost therapeutic and cathartic. I need this time to learn in order to use the interactive format to share and express.