Common Ware

As part of Art Licks Weekend 2019, Common Clay – a Hastings-based ceramics studio – present Common Ware, an exhibition at PEER showcasing ceramic multiples made by members and associates of the studio alongside a responsive sound piece and daily artist led workshops.

For this exhibition, nine artists have been invited to make fifteen ceramic multiple artworks responding to the idea of common ware: ceramic objects made for everyday use. Traditionally common ware are unglazed, undecorated, gritty clay pots, but for this project the artists have been asked to think more about the importance of self-care and mindfulness in the everyday and how this might translate into a ceramic object.

The making of ceramics, working with clay, moulding an object with our hands is widely understood to have a therapeutic quality. Whilst each of the artists have explored this in their process of making, the idea is further demonstrated through a collection of sound works by noch, which will resonate throughout the exhibition, warping and distorting the calming effect of ambient relaxation music.

Each day between 13:00 – 17:00 there will be a free drop-in workshop led by a participating artist for members of the public to join in with. Each workshop will revolve around creating things with clay and will encourage participants to explore mindfulness, sensations and personal hopes.

The multiple artworks, which at the end of the exhibition will be packed into custom made boxes, will be exchanged between the artists as a gesture of communal making and sharing, an extension of Common Clay’s ethos. The remaining six boxes will be available for sale to help fund future projects by the ceramics studio.