Uncovering an Occupational Folklore of Ceramics: Small Stories Found in the Spaces Between Word, Gesture and Clay
Dr Natasha Mayo, Kim Norton and Sam Lucas
Presented at the Performing Object Symposium at Royal Holloway in April 2024
Published in Ruukku Journal No 23 Re-Imagining 2025
Abstract written by Dr Natasha Mayo
The term ‘Occupational Folklore’ refers to the social expressions of people, linked to the work that they do. This exposition explores the possibility of there being a common language of clay, a vernacular that can be used to story-tell, and how stories arise from the studio, from the intersection of making, thinking/talking and clay.
Comprising three discrete projects, we move from a study of the materiality of voice to establishing a vocabulary of clay to a narrative collection of embodied experiences. Their combined knowledge leads to a fourth project, in the form of conversations held whilst making around a studio table. Passages from the exchange are filmed and analysed from the perspective of ‘small stories’, an oral history methodology that gives focus to the speculative, iterative and nuanced decisions often overlooked in a conventional account of a conversation. When applied to the making process, it begins to uncover a deeper understanding of the processual and implicit decisions that take place through the interaction of making, thinking and material properties. The passages allow us to witness the very emergence of storytelling taking place, the moment at which life experiences intersect with formations in clay.
To read the entire article follow the link and press on exposition to see all four projects