Almost as long as potter Trevor Lillistone has been my partner, people have asked us whether we've collaborated. That answer was no until recently, when Ginger Fig Gallery in Taunton sent out a call for collaborations between art and text for their 'Book:d' exhibition. I went through my books and ongoing manuscript to find excerpts evocative of colours and scenes in nature that Trev could relate to various glazes. The greatest difficulty was how to get the text on the pot so that it would be clear through the glazing and firing process. Trev tried a number of approaches on small squares of clay, as tests, and here are the results, now at the Ginger Fig:
This vase bears a passage from my poem for the Bath Festival of Nature along the River Avon.
This vase's excerpt is from my new long poem/chapbook Scar.
The vases are stunning--beautiful glazes, light to hold, the curve of the pot perfect against the palm of the hand. We do think we might improve on the presentation of the text, though, and since making these, Trev has come up with a new idea for how to present it more successfully, so I'm excited about trying again, with a new passage, sometime down the road.