A five-foot animal waiter, a stargazy pie, fish finger sandwiches made from actual fingers and a four-foot revolving ceramic cake are among the creations heading to Durlston Country Park this autumn.
But beneath the humour of Edible Conversation lies a more personal story.
The exhibition is the latest work from 15 Days In Clay, a Poole-based ceramics project which has been working with adults with learning difficulties and additional needs since 2003. Up to 40 artists have contributed to what founder and ceramicist Janna Edwards describes as the group’s most ambitious exhibition yet.
At the heart of the installation is a gathering of hand-built animal totems, each around five feet tall. Acting as guardians and waiters around a fantastical ceramic banquet, they represent words the artists themselves chose to describe what 15 Days In Clay means to them: love, loyalty, laughter, strength, courage, magic and family.
The food they serve carries its own positive affirmations. There’s a ‘pie in the sky’, complete with clouds and suns, and wonderfully literal fish finger sandwiches.
Both acceptable and beautiful
Facing them, however, are the artists’ ‘worry monsters’, constrained by rusty paint cans and old chains and representing some considerably darker experiences.
One artist created a figure wearing a judge’s wig after being told they were ugly and made to feel they were not ‘beautiful’ or ‘acceptable’. Another had been trolled online and told they deserved to die. Others have been told they cost society too much money.
‘It’s tough for the guys, really tough sometimes, but they prevail,’ says Janna. ‘Mostly, they worry about the same things we all do, and we could all learn a lot from them in terms of coping.’
Six of the artists involved have been attending 15 Days In Clay since it began 23 years ago. The centrepiece brings the group’s entire history together. A four-foot-high ceramic cake, displayed on a revolving stand, incorporates elements from seven previous exhibitions, including The Gathering – now permanently installed at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire – and Seed, which attracted more than 3,000 visitors.
There has been serious technical ambition this year. The artists have learned to work with white clay for the remarkably realistic food, right down to clay watered sufficiently to be piped as cake icing. Perfection hasn’t been universal: eagle-eyed visitors may spot that ‘bourbon’ has accidentally become ‘bourbum’ on the group’s tree-trunk teapot…
Post your monster in the emotional baggage
Visitors will be invited to become part of the installation themselves. They can have a cup of ‘positive-tea’ while contemplating the work, then write down their own worry monster and post it into a suitcase of emotional baggage.
Award-winning poet and author Shaine Singer has also created original poetry inspired by conversations with the artists and the words they chose for the exhibition.
‘Powered by cake and tea, our conversations have taken place over 23 years, with clay as the medium through which our interactions flow,’ says Janna. ‘With Edible Conversation, the invitation is there to come in, sit awhile and partake in our banquet.’
Edible Conversation is at the Fine Foundation Gallery, Durlston Country Park, Swanage, from 22nd September to 8th October, 10.30am to 4.30pm. Admission is free. 15daysinclay.co.uk
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