Flame demonstrates the maker’s skill in stretching both the physical form and the techniques ceramicists use to manipulate their materials. The begins as a ‘blank’ vessel – a piece of pottery that has been fired, but not glazed - which is thrown, then suspended from a hanging turntable and stretched downwards, deploying gravity and the passing of time as active partners in the creation of the form. The maker presses it with his hands to produce almost wafer-thin areas. The top is torn to create a delicate ragged edge, leaving the resulting form appearing like it has emerged from the fierce licks of a searing fire – or is the object itself aflame?
This is the only work from Dan Fisher in Crafts Council Collection, acquired in 2004. It is part of a larger series of work using this approach, including Flame Bowl, which was shown at Collect art fair in 2005 and subsequently acquired by Victoria & Albert Museum.
Dafydd: “The image of this object does not do it justice. The size of the bowl in relation to how thin the surface of the porcelain is makes it appear imposing yet fragile, and rather scary to move. With its jagged edges, the pot appears to flicker, and the dark markings along the tips of these edges give the impression of burn marks.”
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