A really good idea is to start a day by inspiring yourself.
I get a lot of inspiration by just walking passed a bakery looking in and just looking at what other people are making. And anything can kind of spark off a new idea.
Once you’ve got your inspiration and your idea in your head, it’s just so exciting to sort of get started to see if you can really make it.
So this is my studio. I’m a ceramic artist. And, erm… as you can see I make ceramic ice-creams. I make very detailed sculptures as realistic as possible of ice-creams.
To start the whole process, I make the cone by using moulds. Then it’s basically… a pattern of how a cone will look. And out of that I’ll be able to create an ice-cream cone.
And there it is… It feels quite magical because when you open up the mould, you’ve actually got an ice-cream cone made of clay. I’m always excited about that. And it’s basically left to dry.
I make this work to be sold in a gallery and they take my work across the world to people who buy art. They just go in to people’s homes or maybe a restaurant. All kind of sort of decorative sculptures. I think the kind of people that buy my work are probably a bit like me but they’ve got a bit more money than me.
I tend to make different scales of work… I make sort of small ice-creams. I generally think about selling two of those per month would keep my studio. But then there’s the larger sculptures which go for a few thousand pounds. So when they sell that means that, you know, I’m in profit.
Now I’m going to actually start scooping clay to make the ice-cream itself.
And that is how I create a scoop. I have a lot of error. Actually, I do have the evidence of a complete disaster, mistake. It’s actually just still in the bin there. And this was at one stage absolutely gorgeous. It was a sort of towering wedding cake with bits and pieces. And I basically just pushed it too far. The whole thing didn’t fit together and it broke. It just got to a state where I thought it’s not going to work and it’s best to just cut the thing.
When it does go wrong you just attack it with a hammer and break it down. And it’s really satisfying [laughs] So that’s how that ended up in the bin basically. I think that’s my most inspiring thing is when I make something and it really doesn’t look good and then I sort of feel much more driven to have another go. And then eventually you kind of nail it and it’s brilliant.
I think it’s definitely worth studying art at any level because even if you don’t take it on further from school level, it kind of teaches you how to solve problems and how to be creative within other areas of your life.
So even If you think you’re not that great at it, you are learning something very important. I think we’re all creative basically, one way or another.
Well these are now glazed and they’re ready to go in to the kiln which is like an oven, which will basically melt the glaze down. The kiln firing usually takes about ten hours or so. But I’ve got yesterday’s firing that I’m just about to open.
This is the moment of excitement… And there’s some ice-creams that are finished.
It’s great when it really looks like the way you’d planned it to come out. It’s kind of a moment where you’re adjusting to it. And erm you’re deciding whether it is good or not… erm… because actually when it’s in your mind you’ve kind of got this really fabulous thing going on. And when you get the thing out it’s sometimes a bit of a compromise, so it tends to grow on you. But I’m really pleased with this one. I really like the drip.
Video summary
An inspirational insight into the life of a ceramics artist.
It profiles London-based ceramic artist Anna Barlow who uses clay and a kiln to creates life-like, ceramic Ice cream sculptures to sell in art galleries around the world.
Anna describes her inspirations and the importance of studying art.
In the film she talks about the process of being an artist, which includes trial and error, and how there is a satisfaction when she decides a piece of work is not working which drives her to ‘have another go’.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used to demonstrate the importance of looking at the world around you for inspiration, showing how an artist goes from looking at something to creating a piece of work based on their observations.
Pupils could be encouraged to make their own work based on ice creams and confectionary, either sculptural pieces, such as the artist makes, or 2D work such as drawings and paintings.
It would be good to explore the work of the American artist Wayne Thiebaud in relation to her work too.
This clip will be relevant for teaching Art and Design at KS3 in England and Northern Ireland, KS3 and GCSE in Wales and 2nd, 3rd and 4th Level in Scotland.
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