Tea stained willow (2)

This time the drawing has been done first and will be used as a mat for the next month or so...(see Stained Past)

Suffolk fragments

An old friend, Simon Farr, came to visit last week. We used to work together over 20 years ago at the Albany Theatre. He has lived with his family in Aldeburgh, Suffolk for some time now so meeting up was a special event. Simon is a political cartoonist for The Guardian, and his wife Annie Lee is a potter. They run a B&B.

I showed him this project, and on his return he sent me a picture of some shards he found in Aldeburgh. He wants to find all the bits so that he can join them together to re-make the plate. I started this project wanting to do the same!

 

Postscript: I went to visit Simon and Annie in May...we went to look at the beach where Simon had found these fragments, but didn't find much on that day. Close by is a working brickworks, so the broken ceramic may have arrrived on the beach the same way as the stuff I found in Halstow, much further south in the Swale estuary. Household debris was burned and brought by barge to the brickworks, the ash extracted to use in the kilns, and the remainder dumped.

Discover Greenwich

Last Sunday I visited the spanking new Discover Greenwich, a permanent exhibition housed in the Royal Naval College, which tells the continuing story of the Old Royal Naval College and Maritime Greenwich. I came across an exhibit of pottery fragments:

1. Ceramic chamber pot, late 17th century
Miniature, or child-sized chamber pot in tin-glazed ware with Chinese-style decoration showing figures in a landscape, probably made in Southwark.
2. Ceramic chamber pot, mid 18th century
Large chamber pot in London-area post-medieval redware with internal lead glaze. Probably made at Woolwich or Deptford.
3. Ceramic chamber pot, mid 18th century
Chamber pot in Westerwald stoneware, imported from the Rhineland, Germany. It is decorated with an ornate floral rosette opposite the handle and large lions and medallions.
4. Ceramic dish, late 17th or 18th century
London-area post-medieval redware probably made at Woolwich or Deptford
5. Ceramic plate, early to mid-18th century
Tin-glazed with decoration in darker blue on a pale blue background, showing a peacock standing in a landscape with a border of flowers, a butterfly and a dragonfly.
6. Ceramic dish, 17th century
Tin-glazed with polychrome decoration, showing part of the leaves, stem and petals of a flower. Probably made in Southwark 1630-80.

On the way back I found the tide was out, so I did a spot of beachcombing and found a hoard of blue and white...

Stained past

Stained Past #1 350x250mm, Ink, gel pen & tea on watercolour paper ©2010

Just finished this. The paper was stained first by being laid on the surface at my studio 'tea station' (atop of the caravan fridge) for over a month, where it collected cup prints and drips from a hundred or so tea makings. The drawing came after and ink was spilled. Am now trying it the other way round.

Royal Doulton Triangular Pitcher

A Christmas present from my sister, another fine piece to add to the collection. Circa 1891 and possibly worth $300 according to Gaston's Value Guide. Maybe.

See another piece my sister found for me:
http://thewillowpatternproject.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-time-for-dickens.html

Mark Dion - Tate Thames Dig

In the summer last year I went to see 'Classified: Contemporary Art at Tate Britain', which was a display of recent major acquisitions which included stuff by Hirst and the Chapman brothers. I came across Mark Dion for the first time, whose Tate Thames Dig 1999 groups together objects found on the banks of the Thames in a large mahogany cabinet. One of the drawers contained nothing but blue & white ceramic fragments. The piece was the result of Dion's organised dig and beachcomb of the foreshore at Millbank and Bankside and was first displayed when Tate Modern opened. I missed it then, and quite possibly might not have noticed it then either.

"Like a good detective, Dion revels in seeing beyond individual fragments to recognise larger patterns; making connections between often seemingly unrelated objects and events. Through the careful juxtaposition of the finds from the Tate Thames Dig, Dion creates new layers of meaning, linking our thoughts to the constructions of the past and choices for the future."

Taken from Art Now: Mark Dion: Tate Thames Dig 26 October 1999 – 26 February 2000. Text by Clarrie Wallis
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/markdion/default.shtm

Postcards from Stoke & China

Some new work...the first four of possibly 16 or more small roughly postcard sized canvases which when hung side by side will make up one piece like a tiled wall...

Stoke 1, China 1, Stoke 2, China 2
Oil on canvas, 180x130mm ⓒ Sue Lawes 2010

More Tea Art...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HBCTSsYyQ

Twinings - The Art of Tea

http://www.twinings.co.uk/twinings-discoveries/blog-post/2010/01/04/twinings-discovers-the-art-of-tea-with-our-new-infusions-ad/?cHash=cdb0b3465b

Twining's new advert (launched this January) aims to "demonstrate an innovative artistic concept" by artist Tom Parks. However, Twinings were also in the news for other reasons...

Twinings axes 400 jobs
by Julia Finch

Primark may be driving profits at ABF, but its posh tea division Twinings is proving less resilient to the recession.Some 400 jobs are to be axed in the north east and Hampshire as Britons loses their taste for premium priced teas.

All fall in demand for aromatic teas such as Lady Grey and Lemon Grove has led Twinings to announce plans to close its packaging sites at North Shields with the loss of 263 jobs. Packaging for the UK market will be relocated to Andover, where they could be another 130 job losses.

Although demand has increased for its Everyday tea, the company said it was embarking on a "reorganisation of its tea manufacturing footprint" to cut costs. It plans to install new high-speed equipment at its Andover factory, double the size of its Chinese factory to serve the Asian and US markets and build a new factory in Poland to cater for all other global markets.

Twinings, which has used Stephen Fry as its advertising frontman, said the changes were " a necessary step which will allow Twinings to remain competitive" and that it made no sense to import tea from China, package it in the UK and then export it back to the Far East.

The jobs will be lost in the next two years and the reorganisation will cost £19m.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/03/twinings-tea-job-cuts

Meanwhile...

Primark sales up to Christmas show 19% jump
Parent Associated British Foods hails performance, but admits drop in gross margins
by Graeme Wearden

Primark has enjoyed another strong Christmas as demand for its discount clothing showed little sign of abating.

Parent company Associated British Foods reported that Primark's total sales in the last four months of 2009 were 19% higher than a year ago, "ahead of expectations". ABF declined to give a sales figure that stripped out the impact of new store openings in the UK and Spain. Jeremy Batstone-Carr, analyst at Charles Stanley, estimated that Primark's like-for-like sales rose by 6%.

ABF said the weak pound had pushed up the cost of goods from America, resulting in a drop in gross margins at Primark. Sterling's weakness has helped other parts of ABF, though, making its sugar more competitive overseas. It also reported a 4% rise in sales at its grocery arm, whose brands include Twinings tea and Ovaltine.

Shares in ABF rose by 1.8% today, gaining 15.5p to 875p.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/14/primark-abf-clothing-sales

Activists rally the troops to save Twinings jobs
Tuesday 29 December 2009
by John Millington

Trade unionists and local politicians are stepping up the campaign to save hundreds of jobs at the profitable Twinings tea company with a public meeting in the new year, it has been announced.

There has been a huge outcry over the potential job losses, which could devastate Andover and North Shields in North Tyneside.

Despite the fact that Twinings and its parent company Associated British Foods (ABF) remain hugely profitable - making £56 million last year - 263 jobs are under threat at North Shields and 129 workers are due to be axed from the Andover plant.

The firm hopes to shift production to its plants in China and Poland.

In order to keep up the pressure on Twinings and ABF, campaigners have forged alliances with every major union in the local area and representatives from the USDAW union, TUC and the local Labour Party will be speaking at the meeting, Save Twinings in UK campaign group said.

Among those addressing the meeting will be TUC regional secretary Megan Dobney, USDAW national organiser Mike Parsonage and Labour parliamentary candidate Sarah Evans. Local sections of various unions have lent their solidarity to the tea workers, including FBU, PCS, RMT, Unison and Unite.

Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell has also pledged his support to the tea staff, tabling an early day motion calling for the government to intervene to prevent Twinings from making the cuts.

Mr McDonnell insisted that the government must intervene to prevent the offshoring of jobs. "The ability of employers to offshore work during the recession should act as a wake-up call to government, which must now intervene to protect jobs."

Local North Tyneside MP Stephen Byers said: "The proposed closure of this plant must be resisted. We simply cannot afford to lose this number of jobs."

Adding her voice to a chorus of support for the workers, Green Party leader and South East MEP Caroline Lucas said: "We must send a strong message to Associated British Foods that its plans to drop 400 Twinings workers in Andover and North Shields are unacceptable."

The public meeting is due to take place at Andover's Guildhall on Tuesday January 19 at 7.30pm.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/85004

Was it ever thus...

Lei Xue

Also at the London Art Fair, insurers & sponsors Brownhill were running a competition to win a signed print by Basil Beattie, which asked the question "What was the insured value of the six porcelain 'cans' by Chinese artist Lei Xue  (before they were damaged)"...Apparently the delicately hand-painted cans had been mistaken for litter by cleaners at a London gallery, "summarily binned" and then "retrieved the next day after a frantic search, a number of them cracked sadly beyond repair". It was great to see the actual pieces on display and a shame the prize was a measley Beattie print and not the cans themselves. (Image courtesy of AXA Art).