What’s Next ?

Curiosity.

This is how it all started.

A simple question: “What if I crush this rock and put it into a kiln at 1200° Celsius?”

As I reflect on this project, I find it fascinating how that question completely (re)oriented my ceramic practice. What started with a rather straightforward desire to know has transformed into something completely different. Because curiosity is much more than just a “desire for knowledge”. Curiosity suggests a certain concern. It is not only asking “what is”, but more importantly “what could be”. And so, in this relentlessness to find the familiar strange — to throw off familiar ways of doing things and looking at them in a different way — curiosity becomes an act of care. Therefore, while I truly appreciate the (new) aesthetic possibilities these materials offer, they also remind me of the way they connect to and affect (or affected by) broader societal and ecological issues. Accordingly, there’s a part of me that wishes that this project also inspires hopefulness and activism. In truth, I hope that this exhibition offers a glimpse of hope for the future – that it is, indeed, possible to find alternatives that could (re)orient our practices toward something that can be more ethical and environmentally cautious.

As my reflection comes to an end, I now have to face the inevitable question: what’s next? Earlier, I said that curiosity evoked care. Consequently, when I wonder about the future of my work, I find myself returning to these two questions:  “What can I do differently?” and “How can I make a difference?”. For the former: while all the glazes developed for this exhibition were made using various commercially available ingredients (such as fluxes and clay bodies), there are many local materials that could work as alternatives. For instance, clay can be collected/foraged locally, bringing with itself the richness and uniqueness of the soil it was found. Furthermore, there are many alternatives for fluxes that can be found/made/collected locally (e.g., eggshells, seashells, wood/plant ashes). On top of all of this, I am also thinking about the inclusion of other materials that are by-products of other industries (e.g., glass shards or dust, construction bricks, countertop off-cuts, metal sludge/slurry, or concrete). For the second question: I think there is a serious need to make these practices easier to get into. Unfortunately, a lot of the knowledge and expertise regarding rocks and other materials (beside clay) are commonly found in publications that are either out of print, difficult to find, or astronomically expensive to get. Alongside the few artists that are openly sharing their process, I would love to continue publishing more of my work, especially in regard to the technical aspect of it, such as the pros/cons of each tool, the methods of testing, the thinking behind the recipes, the modes of application, and more.

As for my closing words, I encourage you to stay curious.

You may never know where a very simple question could lead you in a year or two.

Dare to ask, “What if…”