Laura Aldridge

OPENARIES III: Ever open openings/Ever more open openings/The expanded vessel
Woodlands Community Gardens
19/04/2014

OPENARIES III: Ever open openings/Ever more open openings/The expanded vessel
Woodlands Community Gardens
19/04/2014

OPENARIES III: Ever open openings/Ever more open openings/The expanded vessel
Woodlands Community Gardens
19/04/2014

Commissioned by Glasgow International, Anna Mayer and I created Openaries, a series of events held in Glasgow between April 4-21, 2014. Three large-scale sculptures resulting from the gatherings were exhibited at Trongate 103, Glasgow. Working from a shared interest in analogue firing techniques, we designed and built a portable ceramics kiln out of oil barrels welded together. The ‘double barrel double downdraft kiln’ was the focus of three themed firing events in Glasgow and existed as a dreamy, ‘twin-derkammer’ vessel-sculpture mirroring the two artists who came together to make it. With performative and ceramic contributions from local artists and practitioners, the public gatherings were both ritualistic and casual, and served as a way for the temporary community of the arts festival to engage with larger cross-sections of the city.