It is now almost four months since the day I was busy dismantling my exhibition space and clearing out my studio area at Bath Spa University, and as the graduation ceremony approaches, I have been reflecting upon that fun but hectic year studying for an MA in Fine Art at the University Locksbrook campus.
My entry into the MA degree programme was not exactly via the usual route of a Foundation year followed by BA, but was instead based upon an assessment of over ten years of pre-directed study, firstly in letterpress printing and printmaking, and more recently in ceramics. I began to explore the joy of making with clay toward the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and decided that was what I was going to be my big point of focus going forward, and that was the pathway option I picked for my MA. Enter Ian Knight the ceramicist!
Except things didn’t entirely turn out that way! Don’t get me wrong, I did learn an awful lot about ceramic techniques, and low-fire glazing in particular in the really well equipped on-site ceramics facilities. However, there was a need to present the outcomes of research through a body of artwork. This coupled with the availability of a wide variety of making workshops and facilities, became a source of new discoveries and opportunity. All of this along with a course tutor ever keen to encourage me to look beyond a one medium fits all creative approach, resulted in a realisation that in my case at least, firmly sticking to a ceramics-only approach could become an artistic straight-jacket when responding to my research question. At this point it is worth remembering that my engagement with ceramics has been a fairly recent thing, and I therefore think I have found this easier to accept than if I have been a practicing potter or ceramicist for say 10, 20 or more years. This realisation came to a head midway through the year when the findings of my research study and my style of and experience in ceramics just didn’t gel at all. I had to let go of my self-labelled artistic identity if I were to be able to navigate my way out of this mid-course crisis.
Then something interesting happened. As I explored alternative making methods, my past methods and experiences of making that I thought I had jettisoned, were re-emerging and making really valuable contributions to a final body of work. Past experience in intaglio etching processes including photogravure began to directly inform a process of creating coloured halftone images onto large sheets of 3mm acrylic sheet using a laser cutter. Both photography and video-making, two activities that I have always seen as purely a means of data-gathering, also came to the fore especially when my tutor was always keen to complement me on my photography above anything else! I even rediscovered the satisfaction of making with wood, discovered how to weld, and even discovered the importance of writing as a key artistic input.
Despite this, it sometimes felt like a bitter pill to swallow. After all, wasn’t I really there on a ceramics pathway with the overriding aim to showcase that above all else in my final project and show? Well not necessarily when at the end of the day, I was studying for an MA in the broad church of Fine Art.
Having now completed my MA, ceramics remains my core area of study, development and interest, however, what my MA has taught me is to be more open and receptive to the huge varieties of different creative methods and disciplines out there, and to draw upon pure intuition when deciding how future artistic research outcomes can be most effectively visually communicated to a viewing audience.
Looking back at the work of other MA alumni, I can see that some have had a similar experience, while others have very successfully navigated their MA experience with an unwavering dedication to their core practice, which proves that above all else, there is a need to remain authentic and true to our artistic selves. Although in my case, encouragement to explore beyond ceramics was the right advice for me, it does not mean it is always the right advice for others. Had it been suggested that I focus on performative art instead of ceramics, that would have been a completely different story! Again, I feel that the artist’s own instinct needs to lead the way.