Karen Thompson - Ceramics

WORK IN PROGRESS - spring 2011. 'FARM WORLD' is concerned with the state of current farming practices. A mixed media project using ceramic, purchased plastic toys and found dead insects. The materials have been chosen due to their significance to the earth. They represent both modern and ancient processes.

‘THE DEATH OF MUNROW’ was produced by the Staffordshire Potteries ca 1810-1830. Here is a remake of the original Staffordshire piece plus two of my own contemporary interpretations & companion pieces. These play with the original elements bringing them into a modern day context... ‘THE DEATH OF SAINSBURYS’ turns everything both metaphorically and literally on its head commenting on the simplicity of the food chain and the predominance of Supermarkets within it.
‘THE DEATH OF A SPECIES’ makes a simple comment regarding the over hunting by man and subsequent extinction of three subspecies of tigers.

In the 19th century, the French ballerina Louise Fitzjames had been unfavourably caricatured as a Dancing Asparagus in a ballet of the vegetables, with 'no body at all... as skinny as a lizard or a silkworm.' Today, a strikingly large proportion of dancers have eating disorders. My response to this site specific exhibition was a sculptural piece involving 'Dancing Asparagus', it is a representation of today's body size within dance. I took normal asparagus and then sinewy and unhealthly lean asparagus and cast them in porcelain. The desire in the finished piece is to create a feeling of repetition and conformity in size and shape; to present an audition of dancing asparagus on the stage of the dining table.

300 Slipcast porcelain PMN-2 landmines are placed at one meter intervals, they are symmetrically aligned in order to resemble and reference a military cemetery. FRAGILE plays with the juxtaposition of the breakable and delicate qualities of both human bone and ceramic. The installation aims to tackle landmine awareness and to challenge our appreciation of space and the freedom we have to walk around the UK without risking limb loss or death.

An installation examining our current relationship with the computer keyboard. 'QWERTY' starts with 'CLICKING WITH YOU' a mixed media piece looking at tactility within internet relationships, then through a progression of development ends with 'QWERTY CUNEIFORM TABLET' a piece created by pushing computer keys into clay merging both modern and ancient forms of communication & documentation.

PMN-2 Landmine Trinket Box - Raku (Open)

Taking the Fragile installation further, these Trinket Boxes intend to explore and challenge our associations and expectations of shapes and forms. The delicate porcelain and the pleasing familiar floral imagery lure the viewer into believing the form to be something other than its original design and function intented. I am interested in reactions caused when these preconceptions change.

These delicate PIERCED PORCELAIN MUGS combine industrial and handmade making processes. I slipcast each mug very finely and then when the clay is still wet I pierce & cut every single detail by hand. I do not penetrate through to the inside of the mug and as such the mugs remain fully functional. The light plays with the fineness & translucency of the porcelain creating a changing visual delight.

A storage jar inspired by nineteenth century Staffordshire Pottery. This Tiger jar is a safe haven for all the strange little curios and curiosities one accumilates.

These finely cast porcelain mugs are all handmade individually, they are decorated with collaged images and photographs taken from my sketchbooks.

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