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"SEATS"

5th semester started with a head long dive into the formulation of salt bodies that could be used for ‘The functional seats project’. This assignment encompassed everything, from the selection of a location for the outdoor seats (within the campus), inspiration, design, process, final completed seats to their final firings.

I felt I would like to design my seats for a place that was peaceful. A place, that would be comforting and inviting for quiet contemplation, something that I quite savor. For this purpose alone I chose a lonely corner with a few trees that had a beautiful foliage cover which would allow in screened sunlight and heat in the hot summers.

My seats would be low and close to the ground since I felt that would be the best pose to feel and appreciate the view. By the view I mean the surrounding ambiance. The height of the trees along with their shimmering translucent leaves in the sunlight, the sharpness of stature and loftiness of the colonial architecture of the nassurwanje campus, the pond, the ever so populated canteen and the stretch of green.

It is around March that the best feature of the spot reveals itself to those who would be willing to connect. When the sun decides to shine down with all its might, huge shades of cream canvas are hung up to the many poles that adorn the grounds.

I chanced to discover its beauty myself one evening when I ended a 3 hour shift for a 1280̊c firing, and decided a short break was much needed. I randomly sat by that tree and closed my eyes trying a bit too hard, to block out life while vicious calculations of time and temperature scrutinized my patience, and thoughts of the gas kiln that boisterously rumbled away mercilessly disregarding any forms of punctuality eroded my peace. It was a delicate summer evening, a starry sky, and the sea breezes swept the grounds. It was their sweeping everything including the shades that precariously fluttered and made reverberating sounds that made me feel I was standing at a cliff with a lashing sea beneath me, and the furious wind whipping my clothes. It was a beautiful feeling, I suppose something that cannot be explained by mere words. Maybe all that I said sounds like a jargon of a confused or text with no subject matter. However, in all simplicity, the feeling was of peace like the quiet cooing of pigeons or rain drops falling on a tin roof or the smooth shifting of gears on a highway or the ruffling of dry leaves in the autumn winds or maybe like the silent sounds of a melodious river running its course.

Anyhow, the river drags me along to my inspirations for this project. River eroded pebbles, their cracks of erosion, rock strata, texture and color was my inspiration. How the water silently yet mischievous carves out niches from the pebbles, smoothes it, loves it, yet destroys it, and all the while defining beauty in all its devastation, sounded just like life. I realized during this project that exaggerations, subtlety, intricacy, sophistication and simplicity, these are traits are not easy to understand, yet nature so effortlessly employs them, and mocks us for our ignorance and foolish attempts towards uncovering it’s myths.

The seats had to have strength to withstand weight so a rib-cage like strength mechanism was formulated, something, that my teacher had suggested and it worked just fine. It was a working method that she had seen a fellow ceramist use to make her huge pieces during her residency in South Africa.

Although the project was exciting, and I had very high hopes, the result wasn’t close to what I had envisioned. I felt I could have done a much better job. In all, four pieces were erected out of which two decimated during their inception since the clay body was not plastic enough and apparently the scale was a big too large for it to handle.

(the pieces that did not survive)

The other two were then made from another clay body. From the remaining two that were completed and bisque, one developed a crack in the center of the seat but is still quite comfortable and strong enough to withstand a considerable amount of weight. The last piece, which is undoubtedly my favorite survived without any flaws.

These two still await their final fate in the wood kiln.