Kintsugi

Following in from my last post ( and thinking about it these will not be in a linear order) I started thinking more about the ideas of ceramic repairs, and remembered seeing stuff o the Japanese art of Kintsugi. much more Wabi Sabi can this be, the rescuing of one’s favourite piece of pottery or China ware by glueing the cracks together with resin and then dusting the areas with gold mica or actual gold, to create a strong adhesive seal.

Aesthetically it could add another dimension to my ceramics but on another level the metaphor of repairing one’s physical and emotional scars with something better, stronger and making a highlight of these scars to make more of a history is also very appealing.

It reminds me of when my wife had her mastectomy, the scars that were left were an assault on her body and a loss of her femininity, at the time I said why not hide this by getting a tattoo. My wife and her friend turned round and looked at me aghast and the comment that came back at me was “typical man always wanting to fix something “

Eventually my wife had a Brest rebuild in many ways this also was not a great solution as what was originally there and naturally formed was gone.

In many ways society has to learn to embrace these scars of life and not turn away from them. The realisation that I was not only balancing my sculptural components but also using smashed and deformed pieces of brick, that may have a vague human form are all part of this shared trauma between my wife and I. I know that my wife did not get lover this loss she had lost her body confidence and would turn away from me when getting dressed, in reality we never addressed this issue between us as it was so traumatic.

so leading on from this I have now started thinking about the production of separate ceramic components and gluing them together in the green stage with a different coloured slip or after they have gone through the final firing, and attaching. the components together with either resin or mortar and having it all squidg out