Twice a day they all sit down for coffee and biscuits, and if you don’t you are frowned upon. This is a social time for discussions and debates whether it be design, event or simply social based. Other artists join in whether they be designers, ceramicists, joiners, textile artists or friends. Three times a week there is a communal lunch when everybody attends and you are required to cook at least once a month and the person cooking decides on what the meal is and it varies tremendously. The bread is supplied by the bakery as are the cakes. As an outsider I was extremely welcome and there was a real sense of community.
Day two approaches and it’s another early rise. We work long hours together. Chris then says “so man, what are we meant to be doing together? Am I supposed to pay you?” No I reply, I’m simply here to talk, learn and be inspired and anything you need help with then I’m here for that. Cool he says “lets make sound”. We talk together about our independent reasons for creating sound and the purposes of our work. However I say to Chis that I’m not really sure why I am doing it and he replies to my amazement “Good, me neither” we then agree that we are trying to communicate and that our work is really just for us and everybody else is a bystander, I guess there for the ride. This second day becomes quite interesting as we are still in show mode. The idea today is to design and create some vases/ planters. We visit a small reclamation yard setup by a previous resident. This person was the local doctor and he had recently passed away leaving his small business to his daughter. His daughter is an artist and her speciality is paint. She makes her own colours and the bench in her studio is covered with lots of tiny pots of a variety of different shades of colour. She is greatly concerned with making her finishes with the least amount of harmful additives and chemicals. The store for the reclaimed goods is always open and there are lots of windows, sinks, fixtures and fittings and lots and lots of ceramic tiles and pipes. We are visiting to source some more ceramic pipes/ tubes. Chris says the more organic the better. The vases are to be made from collected materials and the internal part of the vase will be a wine bottle that has had its neck removed. This becomes a long and interesting process of trial and error and it later becomes more error fraught and only one out of a dozen bottles breaks how we intend.
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