Last week I had the chance to see more of the work that happens behind the scenes at the museum, including the technical workshops and conservation department. I had never thought much before about the hidden structures that exist between the building and the objects. In the workshops, mounts were being made for pieces of jewellery which looked like intricate shadows of the objects themselves.
Visiting the conservation department made me see objects in the museum more like living organisms, with humidity, temperature and light controlled in their environments. Their materials expanding, contracting, producing gases and disintegrating. The time and care that is invested in making objects last poses an interesting contrast to the temporary nature of my work in the studio, though at different rates both are in continual states of change.
After The Death of The Bear (unfired porcelain, sieve)
Peak (unfired clay)