London Calling pt2

Wednesday evening and I'm at my first PV for what seems years. It's also being held in one of my favourite venues at OXO Barge House - a huge five floor warehouse with rustic walls and windows, rough floors and wide spaces, and hosted by Cluster Crafts. I thought Toni Losey's ceramics contrasted beautifully with the surroundings. Matte powder glazes on soft globular anamorphic sculptural forms, looking like they are about to march off the plinths into an adventure. Each nodule is thrown on the wheel then assembled. It was lovely to meet and chat about her work for real with it in front of you, to move around and look more closely at surface and texture, compare glaze recipes and working in isolation. Virtual shows just can't do this. 

Upstairs was a more intimate room where Claudia Lepik and her patient models showed off some extraordinary wearable art jewellery. I met her earlier in the summer during her Cluster Jewellery residency at K2 Academy, so it was great to see the outcomes of that month of working in London on show. Using non-precious metals and a lot of soldering she experiments with adornment of the body with The Committee of Sleep. The Barge House was the perfect location for this work and nice to see her again.

The private view was also the launch of Cluster Crafts' first book featuring some of their international craft makers and artists. I am delighted to have a couple of mixed media sculptures featured on p37. The Fish Traps were an unconscious response to making in isolation which gradually unveiled itself as lockdown dragged on over the year. Were we trapped or cocooned and protected from the ravages of the virus? And are the goldfish in my garden pond who kept me company over that odd and solitary summer of 2020 imprisoned or kept safe? In fact, they haven't been safe because I startled a heron this week and they've been hiding since then under the waterlilies. I'm really hoping some of them weren't breakfast.