Beauty / Madness

I was inspired by a lot of the research presentations about contemporary ceramicists in my studio class.

This is how I became familiar with the work of Clare Twomey. 

This is a quote from her website, speaking on the performance piece, "It is Madness. It is Beauty."

"Is It Madness. Is It Beauty was a work commissioned for the Siobhan Davies Studios that communicated ideas about the futility of human action. The artist responded to the repetitive actions of dancers in The Score, and conceived a performance piece that involved the continual filling and re-filling of a number of unfired ceramic bowls with water; however, as the bowls were unfired they collapsed, visually emphasising the human endeavour and desire to achieve."

Clare Twomey "It is madness. It is beauty." (2010) Unfired clay.

Students could benefit from discussions about this artwork in a number of ways. You could use it as an introductory to why clay needs to be fired in a kiln, or to talk about art that comments on concepts of human desire. I'm using this piece in my lesson as an example of how every action has an effect.