The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
Ceramics Monthly: What topics are central to your work and/or research as an artist and why?
Janet Lines: Objects have the power to convey narrative—they tell stories of their making and materialize thought, and they express the fundamental issues with which the maker is concerned.
Moving frequently as a child and young adult in the UK and abroad, and living away from my homeland for many years, has made me question what gives us a sense of home. My work, over time, has become an investigation of these themes, exploring ideas of
homelessness, displacement, and dis-belonging. The idiom “upping sticks”—physically taking up one’s possessions—set into place thoughts of migration, impacted by governmental policies, societal behavior, environmental
issues, and circumstances beyond a person’s control.
Words became stepping stones to metaphors expressing ideas. Sticks, bundles, and sacks, evoking imagery of shoes in concentration camps, piles of furniture on carts, or bundles taken in haste, articulate the fragile state of displacement. These familiar
objects in abstract form tell stories of precarious, unknown places, both physical and emotional.
I began by making sticks. As these forms grew and changed, through a clearer understanding of what this body of work could become, the visual language, methods of making, and concepts changed in step. The notions underpinning this research became broader
but, at the same time, more personal, allowing for wider interpretations. Ideas of the journey focused more on stepping into the unknown rather than the migratory journey. With this shift of perspective, the unknown began to encompass all things unknown
and the disquieting, unsettling emotions this brings.
Openings, the junction between space occupied and contained, took on shapes reminiscent of mouths and entrances to narrow passageways or cavernous interiors, leading into unknown places.
CM: What is the most challenging aspect of working in clay (either technically or in terms of building a career)?
JL: “To know things, you have to grow into them, and let them grow in you, so they become a part of who you are.”1
Making is a constant challenge. It has much to do with intention and material. There are no design drawings, rather ideas materialize through making and my response to the growing form.
Each piece always presents new learning opportunities when weighing up its mass and contours, balancing the form to retain vigor from all perspectives. This is an exacting but exciting process. The sculptures are light for their size and finely built,
which makes them particularly fragile before firing. Pieces displayed horizontally are often made and fired vertically to counteract gravity and warping in the kiln. Larger pieces take time to stiffen and support their own weight before being placed
on their side. It is only then that decisions can be made as to completion, the angle of the opening, and the shape of the rim.
CM: How do you develop the forms or surfaces that are prevalent in your work?
JL: The relationship between form and surface becomes particularly important as scale increases; making becomes more gestural to create undulating and textured surfaces. Terra sigillata, smoke firings, glazes nestling into fingerprints,
stretched clay, and minute details are used to accentuate the beauty of materials and making. The development of surface and form is ongoing through research, glaze trials, and the introduction of different combustibles to new smoke-firing techniques.
1 Ingold, Tim. Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013.
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The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
Ceramics Monthly: What topics are central to your work and/or research as an artist and why?
Janet Lines: Objects have the power to convey narrative—they tell stories of their making and materialize thought, and they express the fundamental issues with which the maker is concerned.
Moving frequently as a child and young adult in the UK and abroad, and living away from my homeland for many years, has made me question what gives us a sense of home. My work, over time, has become an investigation of these themes, exploring ideas of homelessness, displacement, and dis-belonging. The idiom “upping sticks”—physically taking up one’s possessions—set into place thoughts of migration, impacted by governmental policies, societal behavior, environmental issues, and circumstances beyond a person’s control.
Words became stepping stones to metaphors expressing ideas. Sticks, bundles, and sacks, evoking imagery of shoes in concentration camps, piles of furniture on carts, or bundles taken in haste, articulate the fragile state of displacement. These familiar objects in abstract form tell stories of precarious, unknown places, both physical and emotional.
I began by making sticks. As these forms grew and changed, through a clearer understanding of what this body of work could become, the visual language, methods of making, and concepts changed in step. The notions underpinning this research became broader but, at the same time, more personal, allowing for wider interpretations. Ideas of the journey focused more on stepping into the unknown rather than the migratory journey. With this shift of perspective, the unknown began to encompass all things unknown and the disquieting, unsettling emotions this brings.
Openings, the junction between space occupied and contained, took on shapes reminiscent of mouths and entrances to narrow passageways or cavernous interiors, leading into unknown places.
CM: What is the most challenging aspect of working in clay (either technically or in terms of building a career)?
JL: “To know things, you have to grow into them, and let them grow in you, so they become a part of who you are.”1
Making is a constant challenge. It has much to do with intention and material. There are no design drawings, rather ideas materialize through making and my response to the growing form.
Each piece always presents new learning opportunities when weighing up its mass and contours, balancing the form to retain vigor from all perspectives. This is an exacting but exciting process. The sculptures are light for their size and finely built, which makes them particularly fragile before firing. Pieces displayed horizontally are often made and fired vertically to counteract gravity and warping in the kiln. Larger pieces take time to stiffen and support their own weight before being placed on their side. It is only then that decisions can be made as to completion, the angle of the opening, and the shape of the rim.
CM: How do you develop the forms or surfaces that are prevalent in your work?
JL: The relationship between form and surface becomes particularly important as scale increases; making becomes more gestural to create undulating and textured surfaces. Terra sigillata, smoke firings, glazes nestling into fingerprints, stretched clay, and minute details are used to accentuate the beauty of materials and making. The development of surface and form is ongoing through research, glaze trials, and the introduction of different combustibles to new smoke-firing techniques.
1 Ingold, Tim. Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013.
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