Re-Apprenticed. Exhibited in - Material Language: New Work in Clay - STORE - University of Staffordshire Online Repository

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BROWNSWORD, Neil (2016) Re-Apprenticed. Exhibited in - Material Language: New Work in Clay. [Artefact]

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[thumbnail of 4. Waster (2011) Image courtesy of New Art Centre]

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Official URL: https://sculpture.uk.com/programme/material-langua...

Abstract or description

Dissemination context:
Brownsword was invited to consolidate ideas developed through Re Apprenticed into a group of object and film works selected by curators Sarah Griffin and Alun Graves to represent new conceptual shifts in clay and ceramic practice. The 4 works exhibited included: 3 from Re-Apprenticed - 'Relic', bone china, mixed media 2016 (45 x 300 x 9), 'Relic 2', bone china, mixed media 2016 (30 x 150 x 9), 'Re-Apprenticed', film loop 2015, 'Waster', 2011-2016, ceramic, industrial archaeology (x3 plinths 60 x 120 x 25).

The show included works by Phoebe Cummings, Richard Deacon, Keith Harrison, Nao Matsunaga, James Rigler, Marit Tingleff, Annie Turner and Jesse Wine.

Item Type:	Artefact
Additional Information:	Re-Apprenticed examines the complexities of craft and material knowledge retained by a senior generation of ex-artisans from North Staffordshire’s ceramic industry. Deemed outmoded or economically unviable for contemporary ceramic manufacture, there currently exists no apprenticeship system to secure the effective transfer of these skills for the future. The endangered practices of the engraver, flower maker and china painter were the focus of Re-apprenticed, whereby Brownsword archived the transmission and acquisition of knowledge via a direct apprenticeship to these artisans. Through methodologies that intersect experimental archaeology, ethnography and artistic practice, Brownsword’s artistic mediation of what was an intergenerational practice, offered unique insights into ‘hidden’ actions that accrue to meet the demands of each craft. Nuances of embodied knowledge, procedural memory and material preparation, were deconstructed into a range of object and filmic works. Deftness of touch, tool use, pace, timing and repetitive action were made tangible, enabling rare access to each craftsperson’s internalized set of rules and operations. By restaging former artisanal practices, Brownsword also opened up important oral testimony to offer insights into recent transitions in the ceramic industry. These have influenced the critical perspectives of prominent scholars, such as Prof. Ezra Shales writing about marginalised industrial skill in his publication, The Shape of Craft (2018). http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780238227 Text from exhibition brochure: Before training as an artist, Neil Brownsword began his apprenticeship at the Wedgwood factory in Stoke-on-Trent. Faced with the decline of the industry there, he assumed the role of artist/archaeologist, salvaging and regenerating detritus from the Potteries' long history of ceramic production, to create poetic taxonomies of loss, fragmentation and absence. The artisans whose craft skills were at the core of the economic success of the areas provided the subject of an intense period of immersion, as Brownsword has embarked on a 're-apprenticeship' with a flower maker, a china painter and a copperplate engraver. In documenting and re-presenting their skills, he attempts to raise greater awareness of a threatened intangible cultural heritage. A review of the exhibition was featured in: Dew, C., A Field Without Boundaries, Ceramic Review, Issue 281. Sept/Oct 2016. p.31
Faculty:	School of Creative Arts and Engineering > Art and Design
Event Title:	Material Language: New Work in Clay
Event Location:	New Art Centre, Roche Court, East Winterslow, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP5 1BG
Event Dates:	14 May – 24 Jul 2016
Depositing User:	Neil BROWNSWORD
Date Deposited:	05 Jun 2019 13:57
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2023 13:54
URI:	https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/id/eprint/5308

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