The Contemporary Ceramics Centre has partnered up with the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) to present ‘Out Of Stoke’ at the upcoming London Design Festival.
Out Of Stoke is an exhibition of clay works made by Bruce McLean as part of the BCB 2015 festival. The exhibit draws from the collection of work created by Bruce as part of the BCB 2015 project ‘Set in Stoke’.
Bruce McLean is one of the UK’s most original and inventive sculptors. His artistic practice includes sculpture, painting, film, and live art. Bruce has worked at various points with clay and ceramics, not as a potter but as a sculptor who explores clay and sometimes makes pots.
Bruce McLean – Set in Stoke
The starting point for the project was tiles; slab-rolled and hand-made in the BCB studio workshop and dry-pressed and ready-made on the factory floor of Johnson Tiles. Adopting his testing approach to tile making, Bruce ripped into ceramic process, marking and painting, pushing tests through the kiln. En-route he explored the food theme, drawing in references to Staffordshire flat backs and collecting fast food menus. Through building and moulding, rolled slabs were formed into large bowls and angular jug shapes. In a final re-enactment of the production line, Bruce painted 100 slab bowls laid out on a 25 metre long table setting. All painted at a single sitting, the Set in Stoke was completed as an act of action sculpture.
