Dept. of Arts Culture & Gaeltacht
Organised by APIC Centre
Dublin 1996
This exhibition was organised by the APIC centre Dublin. The acronym APIC stands for Awareness Publishing Information and Communication. The aim of this organisation is to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in the arts in Ireland.
The work I exhibited at Still Life was called Hands in the Clay. This was my first opportunity to show my tactile architectural ceramic installations that were truly three-dimensional and could be walked around. These were developed while I was Artist in Residence at the Richard Attenborough Centre at the University of Leicester. Hands in the Clay was made in high fired stoneware crank clay and coloured using various types of iron oxides. As with my earlier work I was still evolving massage techniques as forms of mark making. These marks were worked into small hand sized pieces of clay. When these were fired they were strung on waxed sash cord and hung like a curtain, allowing people to walk through the work. When I am working by touch, I do not really see images, in fact the images are tactile. Consequently, the oxides I use serve to bring out the marks in the clay.