Quietus: a documentary

We find ourselves coming across pottery and ceramics each and every day now, it’s intertwined in to both our work and free time. As a few of you may have noticed in our sidebar and on the front of the shop we are in fact beginning to sell a few pieces here and there. What we don’t encounter too often however is these crafts on a monumental scale, the norm is small decorative and functional wares with the odd large sculptural piece making an appearance. So this project that Jullian Stair has put together really fascinated us today, he’s combined large symbolic creations that also have function.

As I’m sure you’ve noted already from the imagery above, the project is centred around the containment of the human body after death. The artist was compelled to create this series after experiencing the funeral of a young child and in hindsight wanting to create something personal for this last voyage. Julian explains in the film below that when you look to the history books almost every culture you can think of once buried their loved ones in this way, his project merely expands on a variation of style fitting to each person within.

I have to say I really admire Jullian’s will to undertake such a project, it seems he was driven to create objects that weren’t simply just a visual art form, but a material vessel that has real purpose and function. I love how he uses negative space to suggest a human connection to these creations, perhaps this is a subject that some will find difficult but in reality the only given in life is that one day we will die. From a personal perspective I find it heartwarming that someone has taken such care and attention to cherish one’s life in this way.

As you will soon see via the film, creating such objects demands a rethink on the overall process and also the firing in the kiln. I won’t go into too much detail as the film centres most of its attention around this, however if you’re curious to learn more after watching I’d recommend a trip to the artist page for further documentation. For those still eager an exhibition is currently running at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art on Jullian’s Quietus series so if you hurry you might just catch the tail end of this over the next couple of weeks.

www.julianstair.com
www.visitmima.com

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