Friday 4 November 2011

A C R O S S R C A









This week was ACROSS RCA; an activity organised by college that encourages multi discipline work in association with a range of museums, schools and companies in London. I was lucky to be selected to work with the V and A on their project 'History in the Making'. Our task for the week was so select an object from the museum's extensive collection, research its past and meaning and create a modern interpretation of the piece. After quick tours of the galleries by a range of the research staff, a talk from Glenn Adamson, the curator of the 'Postmodern' exhibition and an introduction to the National Art Library we were put into pairs and allocated a workshop within the RCA. I was partnered with a GSMJ student and given the resources of Ceramics and Glass to explore. 

After hours of looking we decided to explore an eighteenth century Japanese tea bowl as we were interested in exploring the almost extinct tea drinking ritual and comment on the modern approach to drinking tea. We made a series of vessels; some of which emphasise current attitudes whilst others enforce the user to relax and take pleasure in the drinking of tea. The collection includes baseless or cross sections of tea cups and saucers; playing on the idea of these being collected for their aesthetic as opposed to functional qualities, cups too big to drink from without sitting down and others with rounded bases, therefore forcing you to drink where the oversized saucer sits. I'm looking forward to next years ACROSS RCA already.

No comments:

Post a Comment