Return to Different Ways of Working

Discussing the works in the Ceramic Contemporaries 4 exhibition Knowledge and Understanding: Different Ways of Working This grand, chandelier-like installation is made of small ceramic pieces strung in ‘freeform clusters’ from a metal hoop with a lace skirt. Like Marian Anderson’s installation, it has a strong visual presence, but it also expresses the maker’s ideas. Basil Olton is concerned with social inequalities. He takes the chandelier as a ‘symbol of opulence’ for those in power, which becomes a ‘symbol of oppression’ for the underdog. Viewed from this perspective, the delicate hanging fragments might begin to take on a more sinister meaning. With older pupils, discuss how objects can be symbolic in this way. Further discussion might focus on how knowing the maker’s intentions (sometimes just a title is enough) might (or might not) affect the way we understand a work. Basil Olton Black Light White Material: porcelain, lace and metal Technique: hand built and constructed.