Episode 29 - Shattered ... Claudia Clare, Ceramicist

The worrying tendency towards censoriousness in the arts is destructive of creativity. Artists often express difficult ideas and reflections in their art, often dealing with the challenges of the human condition … such as the capacity for people to harm themselves and each other. Inevitably an artist’s work might cause offence to some people: but that is part of what artists can do … they address issues in ways that stimulate different responses from different people — sometimes enchanting, sometimes challenging and even offending. And we are free to look, or not look — if it upsets you too much. Art that isn’t simply propaganda — it’s not about telling you what to think: at its best it is both beautiful to look at and capable of stimulating a variety of emotional and thoughtful responses in viewers. Unfortunately curators have become risk averse about exhibiting work that might offend, often overestimating viewers’ capacity to be offended.Claudia Clare’s work can be quite challenging in terms of its content, which focuses particularly on issues faced by women, such as rape and abuse. For example, her series, Shattered, consists of five giant sized, broken and mended pots made in response to women’s accounts of surviving male sexual violence, 2004-7.She makes fabulous pots, some huge, and because she is extremely skilled and inventive in her use of her chosen material, clay — one can spend a long time looking at a piece without ever quite exhausting its possibilities. Her work tends to be characterised by narratives which she creates and draws and paints on to the clay, using a range of glazing techniques. Not all her pots are politically charged, but in this podcast we focus mainly on those that are, some of which have triggered her cancellation from exhibitions.From Claudia’s notes on her images: Princess Hymen is on the five pots in Shattered - it was the one partially hidden after I managed to convince them not to leave it out completely. Shattered was selected by Cartwright Hall and shown at Cliffe Castle, one of their museums.The broken Pot is Remembering Atefeh, 2011 which is now in The Women's Art Collection.How the Prophet was Driven to Drink, 2015 was shown at The People's History Museum, Manchester when they decided the image might be that of the Prophet Muhammed. It wasn't the title or text that put them off. The exhibition was called, 'Ideas Worth Fighting For.'Brave Face, 2022 was part of 'And the Door Opened,' my project with women@thewell (sic).Do check Claudia’s website for more information and images. In particular, check out her ‘Projects Past and Present’ to see a full range of her work. And there are also pots for sale! Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

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