How to Make a Ceramic and Win a Prize at the First Attempt

'Walking in the Rain' detail

It was pouring with rain. My head is bowed down against the torrent, and I am holding my umbrella forward against it like a spinnaker sail conversely going against the wind. The sound of the rain is pattering down hard on the nylon fabric making a comforting prosodic rhythm. It is the sort of weather that makes a lot of people stay indoors - but is a dream to *pluviophiles like me.

I look down, and the heaviness of the downpour is causing splashes from each droplet to dance up, bouncing high off the grey pavement – the water spraying and glistening as it catches the pale light.

I turn into Helmet Row, a cobbled little street that runs alongside St Luke's Church. The rain is forming tantalising puddles in the gutter that shouldn't be tempting me, at my age, to paddle through them. I consider doing it... ‘Shall I?’ but, I just leap over them; gambling with landing short and getting wet instead.

I am on my way to my very first pottery class at Hackney Community College.

I have never done pottery before. I have always thought of it as something that other people do.

But hey! I love trying something new, and so here I am squelching my way through Hoxton Square toward the college.

Hoxton Square puddle

The rain doesn't let up and I arrive in class sopping wet.

The tutor is Maria A Echenique. Yes, she is from Spain! I shake my umbrella and place it against the wall. I ask her if she misses the glorious sunshine of her native land. The wry smile she gives me tells me she does.

“Rain, rain, go to Spain!” She says with a laugh to the rain lashing down outside the window.

It is a small class. There are six of us. Some of them have done pottery before. It seems, I might, perhaps, be the only complete newbie.

After introductions, our tutor presents us with four different types of clay for us to get the feel of. There is stoneware clay, which has a coarseness to it - there is a red terracotta clay - and there is a dark (I forget what it’s called) clay -  and a white clay. I choose the white clay. We are instructed just to take the clay into our hands and pummel and mould it to get ‘the feel’ of it. I have always been good at doing what I’m told, ahem. So, I squeeze it, press on it and knead it, and I like what I feel. ‘Why have I never done this before?’ I ask myself.

Maria, our tutor, then tells us to make whatever we like. This is when I start to feel shy. ‘Make what? What shall I make? What shall I make! Why doesn't she tell me what to make?’ I am starting to panic a little bit.

Maria tells us to allow the clay to tell us what to do.

‘Help! I haven't got a clue!’

So, I just keep smoothing and rubbing, pushing and pulling my blob of clay. I look around and see various shapes taking place in the hands of my classmates, who are, by now, working their pieces of clay into some sort of recognisable object. I see the beginnings of a little bowl, and in another’s hands I recognise what may turn out into some sort of a plate. But…

 

‘WHAT am I going to do?

WHAT am I going to MAKE?’

While watching the others forming their imaginative pieces, I carry on kneading and working my piece of clay without thinking of very much in particular.; then fearing I may get caught staring, I tear my attention away from what the others are doing and from wondering what they might be creating, and cast my eyes back down to take a closer look at what I am doing.

I go crimson.  

For I see and realise, with a shock, that my piece has been developing into ‘an object of desire’, or to put it bluntly (and here I struggle with words to try and tell you what I have been creating in as delicate a way as possible without embarrassing myself) my clay has taken on the shape of an enormous… of a… a… ‘Er… um… well, you know…

...It looks sort of… 'phallic'.

I panic and with an intake of breath, I quickly change it before anyone notices what I have been nurturing between my hands.

I hear Maria telling us that we must use our memory and inspiration from what we have seen and how we feel.

Only yesterday, I had met a friend for coffee in the V&A and I recall a work that had impressed me in the Japanese Room called ‘Blowing in the Wind’ created in 1988  by Kumai Kyōko a leading figure in the world of fibre art. I also remember today's walk in the rain to class, and how I felt (wet).

I push and pull at my piece of clay (which thankfully, now is just a respectable harmless blob shape). I am calm, and hear the rain which is still clattering against the windowpane influencing me, and under the encouragement of the tutor I allow the feel of the clay in my hands to guide me.

I find myself wanting to capture the mood that the weather can evoke - just like the piece that I saw on display at the V&A that had inspired me so much.

I set to work - and in no time at all I have made a figure that is trudging through a rainstorm.

Walking in the Rain





‘Walking in the Rain' is my very first exploratory work and I am only just discovering the many choices and exciting possibilities of creating forms with the malleable medium of clay. 

 I used white clay and an under-glaze of black iron oxide...

 







glaze detail

 ...with just a dash of shiny transparent glaze for the rain.

 
When I first see my figure from the final firing, I am so pleased with it that, I, rather ambitiously, decide to enter my first attempt at ceramics into the Inspired by… competition! I am even more pleased when I receive the news that it has been accepted and selected to be included in the exhibition at the Morley Gallery.

Entry requirements for the Inspired by… national art competition state that you must select something from the collection of the V&A museum that ‘inspires you’, and to reflect and express this inspiration in your own unique work.

I had expected to choose some mediaeval work of art in the displays at the V&A as choice for my inspiration as this is one of my favourite periods in history – but, for my first ever attempt into working with ceramics I was to be unexpectedly inspired by a piece of glass work in the V&A Collection titled 'Blowing in the Wind' 1988 by Kumai Kyōko a leading figure in the world of fibre art.  This intimate study of grasses bowing before the wind represented to me perfectly the power, drama and beauty of the elements; and the impact it has upon us all, and everything around us.

'Blowing in the Wind' by Kumai Kyoko

 

 

 

INSPIRED BY…

INSPIRED BY… is a national art competition for students in adult education inspired by the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and will run from the 17^th May to the 17th June 2016 at the Morley Gallery, 61 Westminster Bridge Rd, London SE1 7HT

Link  Inspired by...exhibition

 

 My next post will be about how my entry does in the competition!




Back view

 

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*Pluviophile: urban word: a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days)

 

IseOluwa - Traditional Yoroba spiritual

Ise Oluwa

'The work of the creator cannot be destroyed'

My video clip features Singing in the City community choir singing ISE OLUWA -  a Yoruba Spiritual, captured during their Christmas Concert 2015 in aid of War Child at the St Ethelburga’s church in Broadgate, London.

Ise Oluwa 

(The words with English translation)

SOLO

Ise Oluwa
God's work

CHORUS

Ko le baje o
Cannot be destroyed

SOLO

Ise Oluwa
God's work

CHORUS

Ko le baje o
Cannot be destroyed

SOLO

Aye fe ok baje o, K'awon ba yo
Satan wants it spoilt so they may be happy

CHORUS

Ko le baje o
Cannot be destroyed

SOLO/CHORUS

Ise Jehofa
Jehovah's work, Holy Spirit's work
Ise ti Baba Wa ti se
The work that our father has done
Aye fe ok baje o, K'awon ba vo
The worlds wants it spoilt so they may be happy
Ok le baje o
Cannot be destroyed
ase. Amin o
amen. So be it.

‘This is something I can do!‘”
Una May Olomolaiye
Una May from Yorkshire is a talented arranger, composer, vocal director and tour de force among community choirs.  She spreads the joy of singing and inspiration through her singing workshops and performances - sharing her knowledge and understanding of the African songs she has collected on her travels to Africa to local community groups such as Singing in the City choir in the City of London.
Una May Olomolaiye’s arrangement of Ise Oluwa was sung at the concert SING FOR WATER helping to raise funds for Water Aid.

The video clip features Singing in the City community choir singing her arrangement. To watch it on You Tube Click hereThis is something I can do!

Original drawing by Lesley Scoble

The Yoruba

West Nigeria is the home of the Yoruba with scattered groups in Benin and Togo.  They are a diverse people with a strong bond of a common language, and long cultural heritage. They are perhaps one of the widest spread of the ethnic groups that belong to the Diaspora.  

The wide dispersal of the Yoruba to the Americas is due to four hundred years of slavery. Their homeland coastal territory along the Gulf of Guinea West Africa was known as The Slave Coast.

Tradition

Traditional way of life is still observed, even though they are today the most urbanised of the African nations. Family rituals continue with both male and female babies being circumcised within the first month of birth.

Christianity

Ise Oluwa is a Yoruba hymn composed in the early 20^th century by a pioneering church missionary. Today, about 20% of the Yoruba peoples are Christians.

Nigerian composers

There are several music arrangements of Ise Oluwa that  have been written for instrument and voice by the established  Nigerian composers – Samuel Akpabot, Laz Ekwueme, Joshua Uzoigwe and Godwin Sadoh.

For the love of singing! Visit the Singing in the City website

Signing off for now!

it. They think, ‘This is something I can do!‘”

Till next time chums!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Social Delight of Art at the Burgh House

It's always nice to get an invite to a Private View and take up the opportunity to go and see new paintings while enjoying a glass of wine and a nibble on a bread-stick.

My sister Teri Anne Scoble asked me if I could join her and pop in to see Faces and Spaces, an exhibition of six London- based artists curated by Art Agent Sue Ecclestone at the Burgh House, Hampstead.

Burgh House, Hampstead Heath

The Burgh House is rather grand with great wood panelled rooms in the manner of the Queen Anne epoch. It has stood in style for nigh on three hundred years mostly as a private residence - but nowadays, an independent charitable trust for arts, heritage and the community open its doors for four days in the week enabling the public to visit it's museum, exhibitions and café (in good weather it can be very pleasant taking tea on the garden terrace). 

From the welcoming bar I equip myself with a cool glass of Sipsmith (never drunk this before!) gin and Fever-Tree tonic.

Refreshments bar

As you can see from this pic - my sister knows what going to an art private view is all about.

Teri gobbling a bread stick

With my G & T accessory in my hand I work my way through to the gallery.



Doorway to the gallery

There directly in front as you enter the gallery is the portrait of one of my favourite actors Timothy Spall by the artist Tim Wright.

TW was painting consultant on the film Turner, working with the actor, teaching him how to actually paint like the painter Turner for his much acclaimed performance.

Timothy Spall by Tim Wright

  Hanging close by is a sort of 'Turneresque' landscape by artist Rw Easterby

Painting by Rw Easterby

On my way out of the small select gallery my eye catches a painting by Robert Dearman (who seems fond of painting big red busses).

Painting by Robert Dearman

This picture shows the artist in a café setting.

 And there is a pretty seascape by Chris Filtness.

Painting by Chris Filtness

 I leave the paintings and make my way back towards the bar where I can hear music.

A most talented musician and beautiful singer Anoushka Lucas is holding the room entranced!

Captivating singing by Anoushka Lucas

 She is singing 🎶 a lilting kinda blues that makes me wonder if she perhaps wrote it herself.

And I sit down beside a mad hatter.

Max-A-Hatter

His name is Max-A-Hatter and he designs and makes hats - should you want a statement piece of headgear - I'd give him a call! He says that you will always be noticed when you wear one of his designs.

So what do you think? Should I get one?

Wanna get ahead? Get a hat!

So, wearing a hat does attract attention it seems! (If you want people to talk to you – wear a hat!) I am still wearing the hat I have borrowed from the 'mad hatter', when a guest of one of the other artists comes over and talks to me! (If you want to sit quietly and listen to music don't wear a hat!) The gentleman is an architect, and his name is Mathew Deering, and he tells me all about his debut acting on the stage and how he now wants to be an actor. And he demonstrates his sword fighting, acting skills.

On guard!

The Minack Theatre is an open-air theatre, near Land’s End that is built upon a cliff rock face overhanging the sea. It was created by a remarkable woman called Rowena Cade who, with the help of her gardener, shifted great boulders of granite to construct this unique theatre.

Anoushka Lucas plays piano and sings

The mood is jazzy and bluesy and I go to the bar for a top- up of refreshment.

Lots of people are chatting and talking about art (I presume).

chatting

When Anoushka sings her last song I drain my glass and take a last look at the paintings.

Anoushka Lucas

Walking out into a light drizzle and Flask Walk ...

...and wend our way uphill towards the high street.

For years, when I'm out this way, I have always loved to walk to the Heath along Flask Walk -  and have always looked out for an old gate that is in a high wall. It is great heavy iron and wooden gate that had come from the old Newgate prison. Big and black and armour studded with rivets. Only, this time all I see is a black hoarding where the infamous Newgate prison gate used to be. It is not there anymore! It has been replaced by a black hoarding!

Wall now devoid of historical Newgate Prison gate

Where has it gone?

Faces and Spaces

Curated by Sue Ecclestone

Faces and Spaces draws together six London-based artists who challenge traditional forms of portraiture or landscape with stunning results and runs until the 17th April 2016

The six artists

Robert Dearman

Jess de Zilva
Rw Easterby
Chris Filtness
Claire Tilroe Steve Wazowski
Tim Wright

Beautiful Singing in the City at St Ethelburga's

Happy Christmas!

filming

Oops! The timing for uploading this concert of Singing in the City Christmas Concert 2015 at St Ethelburga’s Church, Bishopsgate, London, might be a little late in the season – but, I don't see anything wrong with enjoying a little bit of Christmas in the Spring; do you?

You can see the concert on my YouTube Global Scoble channel!
Watch the video!

 Film Editing

sound recording

The editing of this beautiful concert was delayed due to some technical reasons, and also, to some personal ones, ahem – like I was making a film in Hollywood, for instance – you know how it is. But, perhaps you don't believe me? It’s true! I spent January filming in Hollywood. But, I shall tell you all about that some other time.

 

Sound Recording

I have made sound recordings of some of Singing in the City's previous concerts, but this time, they asked me if I could video it. So, on an evening last December, I took along my recording equipment and one camera; and Daniel Perkin as crew.

 

Love of Singing

Singing in the City at St Ethelburga's church

Singing in the City is a community choir of beautiful voices who sing ‘a Capella’. The choir meets regularly in the city of London to rehearse. They welcome anyone to join and there is no need to audition. Their members range from absolute beginners to the very advanced. All the requirement that is needed to join is a love of singing. The aim of the group is to foster musicianship and friendship.
 

Love of singing

Members' Quotes
(from the Singing in the City website)

"I love the friendships, the camaraderie and the sound"
"It's the highlight of my week"
"Thanks very much for the warm welcome, the singing is great and this is the friendliest group I have come across in my 36 years in London"

 Link  Singing in the City website


Stained glass window in St Ethelburga's

St Ethelburga’s

St Ethelburga’s is a little church that has stood in the heart of the city for a very long time – going back to at least 1250 AD. The church was dedicated to St Ethelreda who was a 7^th-century abbess from Barking. The tiny mediaeval church had been a rare survivor of the Great Fire of London and the Blitz in World War II only to suffer near total destruction by an IRA terrorist bomb on the 24^th July 1993 that exploded in Bishopsgate causing extreme (and expensive £350-million-pound bill) devastation to  the area. The church’s very existence was in the balance with a faction of the Church of England proposing that the ruined church was permanently demolished. Fortunately, ‘The Friends of St Ethelburga’s’, along with a huge public outcry, prevented the complete demolition and secured its future with it being rebuilt to its original plan, albeit with many changes to its interior.


Detail of stained glass window

 

 

You can find a video recording of The Singing in the City Christmas Concert 2015 which was performed in aid of the War Child refugee crisis appeal, on my Global Scoble YouTube channel. Here is a link to the concert -  Watch the video!

Enjoy!

Concert programme

 

Ave Maria - Arranged by Helen Yoemans

Ise Oluwa - Traditional Yoruba Spiritual , arranged by Dee Jarlett

Adiemus -  Composed by Karl Jenkins, choral arrangement by Nicholas Hare

Ide Were -  Traditional Yoruba Spiritual chant to the Orisha Oshun, arranged by Dee Jarlett

Walk Dem Bones - Traditional Spiritual  arranged by Saundra Berry Mussa

White Christmas -  Composed by Irving Berlin, arrangement  by Katie Rose

Coventry Carol - Traditional English Carol

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Composed by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane

Here is My Home - Composed by Si Kahn,, arranged by Sarah Morgan

Gaudete - Traditional carol in Latin meaning 'rejoice!'

 

 

 

 

Drawn to Distraction in a Life-Class at the Mall Galleries

To get to the Mall Galleries I need to cross St James’s Park.
It is fairly quiet and the swans and cygnets on the lake create a peaceful mid-morning scene.

A crow crows as I walk past.

I step into Pall Mall. Did you know that it gets the name from the 17^th century from when a Frenchman introduced the game Pelemele (an older sort of croquet type game) to be played on the lawns here?

A lone jogger huffs and puffs by...

Jogger jogging

Note: referring back to my post of 18th February ‘Now is the Time to Ban Joggers from Tranquil Walkways’ in which I complained a bit about joggers ‘en masse’. The odd solitary jogger is fine by me! It’s only when they are in their hordes taking over the pavement space that I have contention.


A long line of tourists crocodile their way up the red ceremonial route of Pall Mall and carry on past the elegant Regency style porticoes of the Mall Galleries, and on towards Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square.

A long line of tourists crocodile up the Mall

Note: the Mall has been tinted red since the period of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation to create the effect of a giant red carpet leading up to Buckingham Palace – so eat your heart out Oscars!



Before entering the galleries, I glance up to the sky and see the sun (looking more like the moon than the sun making a feeble watery effort to break through the wintry cloudiness.

A watery sun tries to break through the wintry cloudiness

Once inside the galleries I join a pop-up life-class workshop with artist tutor Henry Gibbons Guy. The model is good looking and has a beard that reminds me of an 8th century BC Assyrian warrior of King Ashurnasirpal II who might have leapt right out of a great stone frieze that I have seen gracing a couple of walls in the British museum (I make a note to return to have another look at it again sometime).  It has all these wonderful warriors and horses and lions carved on a gigantic scale and is so AMAZING!

I've been supplied with good quality paper (which negates the lugging of my sketchbooks in an already too heavy satchel!). I want to experiment using charcoal and graphite sticks and mixing them with some wax. I have brought with me a small pot of Michael Harding’s beeswax paste and a Windsor and Newton colourless Oilbar. I draw a bit then smudge on some wax. Hmm this could be interesting… I look up and become a little distracted (not this time by the model, but by what is hanging on the walls. The workshop is being held in one of the galleries and the walls are exhibiting some smashing works of art and a painting has caught my eye.

It is a stunning landscape painted with a palette knife.

Tim Galton 'Incombe Hole near Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire'

I return my attention back to my artistic endeavours and scribble and smudge and concentrate a bit more on my drawing

At the break, I sip a cup of tea and am idly looking at a painting of a rainy night scene, when the Assyrian Warrior God speaks over my shoulder, 'That's one of mine' he tells me.  I look at him, and back at the label beside the picture; it turns out that the Assyrian Warrior is an artist called David Caldwell, and a good one at that.

David Caldwell 'Rainy Night'

At the end of the workshop I roll up my master drawing of the Assyrian warrior and tuck it under my arm. Before leaving, I take a walk through the galleries and check out some of the other paintings in the Lynn Painter-Steiner Prize Exhibition.

There is a beautiful oil of Ripley Castle. Gosh! That reminds me of an incredible experience I had whilst visiting this castle in Yorkshire. You wouldn't believe it! I must tell you all about it in another post when I have more time to tell you about a ghostly 'occurrence' from the English civil War. Its a very spooky castle.

A large picture of a broken ship in a wide a cool sea...

Detail of painting

Broken Vessel by Peter Archer

Picture Details

The Cowgate is the winner of the Prize and I like it.

The Cowgate by Henry Kondracki

Details of The Cowgate

The next painting I come across makes me feel like taking a walk around a garden...and I love the thickness of the paint and brushwork. Painted by Peter Clossick and Runner Up for the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize.

The Garden

Another Runner Up Prize painted by Benjamin Andreas is of Hoxton Square. I'm often in Hoxton so, who knows, I might pass by this location sometime...

Hoxton Square Daytime

Emma Haworth's Secret Garden is like reading a wonderful children's story and I would have liked more time to explore it. The delightful naivety of its style would be magical to hang in any child's room.

Secret Garden

Details from Secret Garden

My final painting selection just makes me want to do some wild swimming in some unknown remote and secret place..

Secret Place by Daniel Ablitt

Oil on canvas 

After spending the morning in distractions of the arts I exit the galleries and out into the afternoon.

Is the sun shining? Nope! The sun has failed in its vain attempt to break through the cloud which now hangs flat and grey overhead. Ah well, Spring is just around the corner, so who knows? We might get to see the sun some time soon.