Ruth Duckworth and Grayson Perry approach clay as a material for creative expression from different perspectives that are firmly located within their individual subjectivities, temporalities, spatial practices and in the wider cultural and socio-political contexts in which their works and methodologies are situated. In this essay Duckworth and Perry bear the burden of representation of being female and male, respectively, and in this respect their artworks reflect their individual responses to gender distinctions. Duckworth explores issues of sex and gender somewhat obliquely by comparison to Perry who takes a strident approach to what he perceives as a form of discrimination against men through their cultural representation as a result of British society’s expectations of masculinity. Perry expresses concepts of gender distinction and transformation through his embrace of transvestism as a way of life combined with heterosexual marriage, and in his work, writings and broadcasts in the media. Duckworth is largely silent and leads a more self-contained private life so that understanding her response to gender can only be a matter of interpretation from her ceramic practice. The juxtaposition of these two artists provides an opportunity to consider how they each address gender through their work. This comparison also reveals some of the ways that the application of social and cultural interpretations of and responses to sex and gender contributes to a perception of Duckworth and Perry as sharing a degree of outsider status. Neither can be said to be purely an outsider artist yet their use of clay as a means of artistic expression inevitably leads to an association with the divisions and hierarchies within the art world involving art/craft and nature/culture binaries that are intimately connected to sex and gender debates alongside a consideration of primitivism, modernity and post-modernity. These debates have relevance for a discussion of ceramic craft practice in contemporary Hong Kong and this dissertation draws attention to some of the issues facing the author who is also a practicing ceramic artist. The main focus of this essay is to reflect on the work, and to a lesser extent the lives, of Duckworth and Perry and more briefly Asger Jorn and Isamu Noguchi, whilst drawing some comparisons to the life of a practicing artist in Hong Kong who also works with clay, is female and originates from a different place from the one in which she currently lives and works. / published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1984. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 32).

M.Tech. (Ceramic Sculpture) / The motivation for this study is the idea that ceramic objects reveal processes of thought and action, form and function, within set parameters. These parameters involved the idea of harmony and balance within a piece of work. The work speaks of diverse forms and concepts, the columnar aspect being a recurrent theme. All standard forming methods within the ceramic dicipline were used and combined in different ways to 'achieve the desired results. These methods include throwing, slip-casting, slabforming, pinching, press-moulding, and extruding. Designs were applied by means of coloured slips, glazes and on-glazes. In some instances the pieces were multiple-fired in order to achieve the desired effect. Sprayed enamel paint was also used, in two instances, where a particular effect was required. The technical problems of transporting large structures was resolved by the use of modular forms and segmented parts which could be dismantled and reassembled. Once a permanent site is found, the works will be assembled as follows :- A concrete foundation will be made. All segments of the column will be cemented together. A core of reinforced concrete will be set into the inner columnar space so that the pieces are structurally sound. This refers in particular to the Partially Disintegrated Columns I & II. Measurements listed on the drawn illustrations were all taken prior to firing.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 24).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaf 61.

Thesis (MFA)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 41).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Accompanying CD-RW contains a PDF of the images referred to in the thesis, including images of sculptures from the artist's thesis exhibition. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25-26).

This creative project was an in-depth study for the artist. It was a realization of a sculptural idea in the artist’s mind. The study was a personal one in the sense that no reference or outside source of any conscious nature was used. The sculptures that resulted from this study were a unique an creative endeavor on the part of the artist. This project was designed by the artist to solve the problem of effectively putting together two types of properties that clay holds, soft, plastic and organic when wet in contrast to hard, stony, and geometric when fired.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1983. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31).