by Joanna Richardson

Something To Build On is a series of experiments from the 2020 covid-19 quarantine. I learned that, with a bit of ingenuity, I could fire clay in charcoal barbecue. Each bowl began as an easy way to test different techniques as I climbed the steep learning curve of my barbecue firings. As my fingers meditatively made more test bowls and as they piled up on my shelves, I started seeing them less as tools or an archive. Collectively, these are objects of play. Individually, these wee bowls are beautiful and still. But when placed together, we immediately begin placing relationships between them, arranging them into patterns, gradients, rhythms, precariously-stacked towers. While these forms aren’t conventional items of play, I can’t help but find a beautiful continuity between the exploratory process of making them, and the intuitive joy of arranging them.
I invited viewers to come play. They were welcome to use these humble forms to create compositions on the table and it was be fascinating to see the works we made together. 

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