Kitsch in Contemporary Ceramics: From Postmodernism to Queer Theory is a synopsis of extensive research investigating the relationship between kitsch and contemporary ceramics. In particular, this research seeks to discern if this relationship has the possibility of creating a new paradigm between these two areas. Due to the lack of scholarly engagement on the part of art historians with the field of contemporary ceramics, there is a dearth of research in this area. This investigation, therefore, seeks to address this lack and make a significant contribution to the debate in this area, and provide a basis for future critical research and engagement in this field. The use of kitsch as an art process to create hybridized objects has validity in this investigation insofar as this involves recontextualization of an art form, traditionally associated with low aesthetics, by a group of international artists to produce sculpture that speaks about social commentary, popular culture, gender issues, and satire. As well as framing this investigation within the theoretical parameters of postmodernism, popular culture, and queer theory, I have also employed oral history. These diverse approaches have proven invaluable in providing a range of perspectives that permitted critical analysis from multiple points of view.

This research study is concerned with the activity of ceramic residence centres. An area of art practice which exists both as a separate field as well as one within a burgeoning and wider sphere of international artist residence centres. This wider field is recognisable by its recent and rapid expansion providing new possibilities which have become a fundamental part of the working practice of visual artists of all denominations. The impact of leading ceramic residence centres such as the European Ceramic Workcentre (EKWC) in the Netherlands affects inherent working practices, work produced, cultural exchange, individual mobility, as well as innovation and the concept of how the ceramic medium can be used. This study provides a discussion of practice and its development at the EKWC as well as an understanding of comparable work carried out in the divergent cultural backdrops of the Northern Clay Center (USA), Yuegi Kiln Workcentre (P.R. China) and FLlCAM (P.R China). Theoretical evidence concerning these ceramic centres is complemented by my own practice at each facility which has taken place both during and before commencement of this research. Imagery associated with this evidence provides a visual expression of practice, the resulting artefacts, and a contextual perspective of the individual ceramic centres. The balance of understanding in this research finds that within this developing, international and cross-cultural field the EKWC plays a significant role in advances technically and for the expanded possibilities and understandings of ceramic as a creative medium. This study describes how this has been achieved and provides an appreciation of the extended potentials of good practice for ceramics in the context of the residence and workcentre fields.

This thesis is a multi-dimensional investigation into the technology of Early and Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2400-1700 BC) pottery production in Cyprus, involving physicochemical analyses of raw materials and their processing, their possible provenance and the study of the various stages of the production sequence. In particular, macroscopic examination, optical microscopy, ED-XRF and SEM-EDS were employed for a combined petrographic and chemical study of different ceramic types for the reconstruction of ceramic production traditions, and the inference of possible networks of social interaction between contemporary settlements, as reflected in patterns of ceramic production and provenance. This large-scale analytical project is developed through two case studies. The first is a comparative analysis of Red Polished Philia ware from the sites of Vasilia Kylistra, Philia Vasiliko and Laksia tou Kasinou, Kyra Alonia, Nicosia Ayia Paraskevi, Marki Alonia, Kissonerga Mosphilia and Skalia. The core focus of the second case study is the settlement of Marki Alonia from where various typical ceramic types were analysed for a diachronic technological assessment of pottery production and patterns of ceramic distribution at a single, well-documented settlement. The general impression is that for more than seven hundred years ceramic production was primarily pursued at a local level with only minor imports from larger production centres. The only unambiguous patterns of raw material selection throughout this period are related to the production of Philia and cooking pot fabrics, and ceramic slips. The island-wide network of Philia inter-regional interaction, reflected in a technologically uniform Red Polished Philia ware, broke down on the threshold of the Early Cypriot I period into more regional patterns, reflected in a more diverse repertoire of Red Polished fabrics. A low degree of standardisation in ceramic production reappeared only in the Early Cypriot III period, when some attempts were made at better quality control.

No description available.

No description available.

This practice-based research examines the expressive capacity of the ceramic process and medium. Expression is considered in relation to a specific range of bodily experiences and states, namely: those associated with what the human being and the human body might undergo within an industrial environment (a context that is a recurrent theme of my art practice). The artistic manipulation of clay, I argue, influences the expressive potential of the resulting artwork,suggesting that the manipulation of clay is more than simply a means to achieving a predetermined end. Using my own artistic practice as the principle method of investigation, I examine the relationship between the ceramic medium, the process of making and the resulting expression. The research is made up of four strands: (1) a literature search with field studies, (2) a theoretical investigation, (3) a practice-based investigation, (4) and three case studies. All strands are conducted concurrently and inform one another. The literature search outlines the area of study, and the field studies confirm and clarify the focus of my investigation. The theoretical investigation examines relevant theories of expression, and I adopt the phenomenological approach of Merleau-Ponty, on account of the relation he establishes between embodiment, artistic medium and expression. This provides a framework which allows me to describe and analyse my engagement with clay and related processes. The experience of making is vital for an understanding of how artists interact with their work and medium. Through my own practical work, my interviews with case study artists, and the reflection and implication given by phenomenology, I describe, explore and extend the expressive potential of clay. The research shows that expression is not the result of antecedent awareness, but the result of the artist's bodily communication with and experience of her medium. It emerges that there is a link between the artist's bodily engagement with the medium and the aesthetic, expressive qualities which are achieved in the resulting artworks, leading to the conclusion that the medium is an active and responsive participant in the artistic process.

This work was concerned with the methodological approach in the compositional and statistical analysis of coarse pottery. Two archaeological projects were undertaken, one in which the temper was chemically measurable (shell temper) and one in which the temper was petrographically quantifiable (sand temper). The first project involved the analysis of shell-tempered pottery from two sites in Lincolnshire (Ancaster and Dragonby), which were typologically distinct and fully expected to be compositionally distinct. Due to the archaeological simplicity, this project was treated as a "test case" for statistical procedures. The analytical data were treated in a number of different ways: aluminium- and scandium-normalisation, calcium carbonate corrections and correlation corrections (modified CLUSTER analysis). The results of the multivariate statistical analysis on the respective data sets were compared and the success of the various temper-correction methods evaluated on the basis of how well the two sites were separated. The modified CLUSTER analysis was found to give the most successful site separation. The second project involved the analysis of sand-tempered Durotrigian pottery from Maiden Castle, Dorset, and incorporated both petrographic and chemical analyses. The sand temper was quantified by point counting, and the analytical data subsequently corrected for the amount of added sand. It was found that the majority of the Durotrigian pottery was made from the same clay source. Fired clays from the Poole Harbour region were compared with the pottery samples. Three of the clays were found to be compositionally similar. Samples of PreDurotrigian pottery were compared with the Durotrigian pottery and were also compared to samples of fired clay from the vicinity of Maiden Castle. The Pre-Durotrigian samples were found to be fairly similar to the local clay. Some of the Durotrigian samples were shown to be similar to the PreDurotrigian pottery, suggesting that some of the pottery was manufactured closer to Maiden Castle than previously expected.

No description available.

This Ph.D based on existing published and creative work brings together contribution to knowledge by Rosette Ford Gault. Within the book Paperclay Art and Practice (2013) is a core framework of innovation that Gault developed for her ceramic art seen in her first handbook in 1993. Porous/vitreous "paperclay" with her pulp/clay ratio allows wet to dry patch of cracks and multiple other advantages now in continuous use. Of 18 novel preparation methods and 75 ceramic practices, ways to create an interior fibre structure of cellulose fibre and maximize the nano scale relationship between clay body particles and cellulose fibre were explained. In collaboration with Dr. David Kingery, the first micrographs with a new profile of displacement and modulus of rupture data for her wet/dry capable pulp/clay ratio paper clays were published in 1993. Gault contributed US Patent 5,726,111, trademarked PClay®/P'Slip® products since 1996, a portfolio of artworks, (150) exhibitions, (5) books/dvd, (38) articles, (2) websites and published research vision for water filtration, simulated ceramic bone, and industrial waste reclaim. Development, background and research methodology of these contributions are traced. Teaching included 77 demonstrations in 15 countries. Work undertaken by Gault has been referenced in at least 218 published pieces of research and cultural contribution, (6) Ph.D, and (15) M.F.A.lM.A. degrees. Artists from 39 countries contributed to the book. Future research areas stemming from this thesis include education, 3D printing, collaboration with materials science, porous clay filtration, medicine, and sustainable design.

No description available.