News – Page 4 – Jon Williams Studio Pottery

Sonic Bees

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 21st May 2020

Throwback Thursday: Electro Bees in the Black Country Aug 2016

Back in the depths of Winter 2015 Jon was approached by Creative Black Country to contribute a work of art for a field of ceramic flowers, being ‘grown’ by community groups in West Bromwich and the surrounding area.

He submitted several ideas, but the one that really captured the imagination of CBC was a swarm of touch sensitive ceramic bees that buzzed when handled.

Jon’s practice is interactive and playful and the more layers of engagement the better. FAB LAB were the technology collaborators on this occasion with notable and outstanding ‘problem solving’ contribution from Anne Scrimshaw.

The bees were also featured on BBC Midlands today.

Tags black country, digital, exhibition, interactive, interactive art, sound art, west midlands

Interactive art social engagement

Making Together

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 14th May 2020

Throwback Thursday: Making Together at Birmingham Settlement 2018

This was a year-long programme of inter-generational making based activity initiated by Craftspace and took place at Birmingham Settlement.

I was one of six makers who got to work with early-years children (0-5 years) and their families in an open-ended way, exploring the processes and techniques of our chosen art form. The project provided an opportunity for children, parents, carers and grandparents to explore and make together.

There were three sets of workshops, each focusing on a different material: Textiles, Metal and Clay. Two makers collaborated on each set. I partnered with Joanna Dawidowska, a ceramic artist based in Burton Upon Trent. The workshops took place during spring and early summer 2018. All the sessions were free to attend.

By way of a legacy, each lead artist produced an activity kit handed over to the Centre at the end of the project. This was to enable the early years practitioners, parents and children to carry on the exploratory play work once the project had concluded.

I really enjoyed putting the clay kit together and encouraged parents to make their own clay stamps and mark making implements to accompany all the other stuff.

Artist, model & photographer Liz Ord took some cracking pictures of the clay sessions.

Further details of the project can be viewed on the Craftspace website.

Tags birmingham, community, EYFS, interactive, interactive art, learning through play, reggio emilia, west midlands

experiments

Thrown and Altered

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 10th May 2020

Really enjoyed making these three!

They were produced at a time when I was busy experimenting with process and materials, using all sorts of clay bodies and firing temperatures.

I worked intuitively and quickly, blow torching freshly thrown vessels on the potter’s wheel so they’d take a layer or two of coloured slip. I’d then stretch, cut and distort the forms, pushing the wet clay to its limit.

I had so much fun and although I was excited by the results, I didn’t ever get to a point of turning all I’d discovered into a coherent body of work…. until now!

Over the coming weeks and months I’m aiming to revisit some of the techniques and produce some finished ware. Next year I’m booked to exhibit at Contemporary Ceramics Centre in London. You never know, some of the output might make an appearance there!?

Tags brick clay, materials, playing with clay

Interactive art Outside

Very Happy Making

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 7th May 2020

Throwback Thursday: Happy Craft Play Project 2013 – 2014

Outside learning with nursery aged children in the depths of winter – chilly, great fun and a fine example of partnership and collaborative working! Just look at the individuals and organisations involved:

Commissioned artists:

Jon Williams

Ann Marie O Sullivan

Corrie Williamson

Organisations:

Loxdale Primary School

I made ceramic play things and clay stamps as a response to the exploratory sessions with the very young children and their teachers. The work was then gifted to the school to as a resource for future outdoor learning.

Background to the project:

The Craftplay project brought together WAVE and Craftspace who worked together at Bilston Craft Gallery to deliver a programme of creative engagement sessions with early years’ children. The project engaged with children and their carers through working with craft makers to explore creative play and the natural environment – investigating the part craft plays in developing a sustainable future. By taking the world around us as a teacher and actively interacting with, The Craftplay project sought to inspire children with an appreciation of the environment and its systems, and to enrich their self-belief through creating things themselves by hand.

There is an acute need to support basic wellbeing in the area immediately around Bilston Craft Gallery which has high concentrations of children living in poverty and high levels of deprivation. The sessions provided by the Craftplay project offered a rich, inspiring and fun learning environment where curiosity, confidence and social development were nurtured. In order to chart the progress of their project, WAVE and Craftspace created a great blog.

Read a Case Study of the project – Bilston Craft Gallery – developing outdoor play

Tags art gallery, bilston, community, engagement, EYFS, garden, interactive, interactive art, museum, outside, play, west midlands, wolverhampton

Exhibitions installation Interactive art

Hereford Ceramic Sound Trail

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 30th April 2020

Throwback Thursday: Hereford Ceramic Sound Trail 2015

Having been inspired by the success of my solo exhibition Sensational Clay, I was keen to explore in more detail some of the threads I’d been developing for the show – particularly the sonic possibilities. I was interested in adding a digital aspect to my work and contacted the digital sound artist Ashley Brown to see if he was interested in a collaboration. He was! and our work together culminated in three installations in three cultural venues in the city of Hereford. A promotional map and leaflet was also produced by Reeves Design.

The whole project was generously funded by Arts Council England

The Hereford Times ran the story:

HEREFORDSHIRE based potter Jon Williams from Eastnor Pottery has combined the core elements of his practice; ceramics, sound and public engagement, to produce three, site specific, interactive works of art in Hereford.

Visitors to The Cider Museum, Waterworks Museum and Old House Museum will have the opportunity to play and explore ceramic installations inspired by the different venues.

Musical Apples (10 green bottles) at The Cider Museum is a series of oversized ceramic apples with bronze leaves and stalks, displayed on eight magnificent Kilderkin barrels. Visitors are encouraged to gently caress the leaves to produce musical notes recorded from tinkling cider bottles.

Visitors to the Waterworks Museum on Broomy Hill will encounter a potter’s bench full of rustic jugs of various sizes and hand-thrown in a selection of different clays. Musical Jugs (Jack and Jill) can be tuned by filling the vessels with water and gently tapping the pots with beaters.

Musical Hotpots (Oranges and Lemons) at Old House Museum is inspired by the historic use of the magnificent timber-framed building. It’s been both a bank and a butchers shop. Museum visitors can play the terracotta and ceramic bone xylophone.

“Although clay is the primary material, I’ve collaborated with other artists and craftspeople to realise the work,” said Jon. “Artist blacksmith, Andrew Findlay and wooden furniture maker Timothy Hawkins, both based in Herefordshire but with national and international reputations, contributed to the making.”

Two of the installations rely on digital and electronic wizardry to fantastic effect. This has been enabled by Creative Technologist, Ashley Brown, who Jon worked with throughout the design and production.

The project was funded by Arts Council England and has taken Jon and his collaborators 12 months to develop and install, and all the elements are now permanent features at the museums.

Tags brick clay, digital, exhibition, hereford, interactive, interactive art, museum, musical pots, sound art, water play

Outside

Pottery bunny

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 20th April 2020

Never been asked to make a pottery rabbit before!

Chuffed to be asked by the lovely peeps at Puzzle Wood in The Forest of Dean to be included in their Great Puzzlewood Easter (virtual) Pottery Trail!

Tags forest of dean, garden, outside, rabbit

Exhibitions

Water Play Ceramics at Leamington Spa Museum & Art Gallery

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 17th April 2020

A couple of pots from the Museum’s ceramic collection that inspired Jon to make his interactive, water play ceramics for the exhibition MAKING HISTORIES currently on show at Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery in Warwickshire.

The first two photos are of a large, flat based, stoneware bottle with an arrangement of tiny holes pierced in the base. Submerged and filled with water, the liquid is magically held within the vessel by placing a thumb over the bottle top! When the thumb is released, the vacuum is broken and the water sprays out of the base like a watering can hose. The function of this piece was not horticultural, but to quell atmospheric dust. They were used on busy, dusty high streets before the advent of tarmac. Fastidious shop keepers attempted to limit the amount of dirt settling on their shop windows by watering the pavements outside their premises.

Here are Jon’s pieces he developed for the exhibition. Each piece sits in it’s own water tank and is 100% designed to be played with by Gallery visitors. Photos by George Nash.

large mouth whale in water by jon williams 2020 doughnut octopus by jon williams 2020 doughnut octopus in water by jon williams 2020 ceramic bubble fish by jon williams jelly fish rattle by jon williams 2020 jelly fish by jon williams 2020

Tags art gallery, exhibition, inspiration, interactive, interactive art, leamington spa, museum, sound art, water play

Exhibitions

Making Histories Exhibition available online

Post author By Jon Williams
Post date 17th April 2020

Jon’s been busy making new work for an exhibition entitled ‘Making Histories’ scheduled to have opened 20 March 2020 at Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum.

He was one of seven contemporary ceramic artists from the across the Midlands, invited to respond to the Museum’s diverse collection of ceramics. All commissioned artists were to exhibit new work alongside some of the historical objects that inspired them. Then COVID-19 hit!

Needless to say, the Gallery closed and the exhibition cancelled, not before the exhibitions team had spent weeks installing the show.

Undeterred, the team at Leamington have been working incredibly hard to make the exhibition available online. And here it is! – a video complete with commentary by exhibitions curator Lily Crowther.

Prior to delivery, photographer George Nash took some smashing photographs of Jon’s exhibits. We’ll post a few up here on the website along with the historical items that inspired Jon’s making. Watch this space….

Tags art gallery, exhibition, fish, interactive, interactive art, leamington spa, museum, sound art, water play

Uncategorised

New Website

Post author By admin
Post date 17th February 2020

We are pleased to say that we have a new website!