Sunday 23 March 2014

All the World's a Stage


Big changes have happened on the ceramics/house front. 




To recap, I started working on translating the cardboard rooms put together based on my active imagination work with Estelle...



... into porcelain. Unfortunately, but probably predictably, the two side walls without support started to warp. I didn't want to close the room off with another wall and for a good while thought about different possibilities.

Then a light bulb went on. Perhaps the idea had been lingering for a while as a few months back I'd been captivated by the idea behind the film 'Hugo' and Georges Melies the French illusionist and film maker's work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s

I suddenly remembered the Pollocks Theatres I'd played with as a child. How about turning every room into a theatre set. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_theater



After all, as William Shakespeare said: 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...'

And I found one in, of all places, a small second hand bookshop in Stellenbosch, tucked away in a corner. (Wasn't for sale!!!)





So I set about making a first template and putting together my first porcelain theatre  bringing together elements of the original Pollocks Theatre characteristics and the dream work I've been doing with Estelle.

Still a long way to go with this first piece but I am very excited about how it is developing...




The black and white tiles that seem to always feature in my dreams and active imagination work





And the forest... Which I am drawn to. The forest, which stands for the unconscious and its mysteries and which features in my paintings





And instead of the orchestra at the front, another symbol of the unconscious, the sea.