Tamsin van Essen in Conversation

About

Ceramicist Tamsin van Essen will work for three months at Siobhan Davies Dance, exposing the evolution of the creative process of making. With three critical phases, the work responds to movement and stillness within Siobhan Davies Studios.

In the first phase, an existing body of ceramic work by van Essen, including vases inspired the by the melancholy opulence of 17th Century Dutch Vanitas paintings, mark the starting point for her investigation. Focusing on the fragile point where the form begins to break down, the porcelain vases convey the delicacy of a static object caught before the point of collapse. Alongside the ceramic pieces, sketches of dancers from Siobhan Davies Studios capture the feeling of someone or something being frozen for a moment in time before continuing.

Initially displayed in a traditional manner on plinths, the pieces migrate throughout the building during the second and third phases with new experimental works being added, revealing the artist's thought process in responding to the building and the movement within it.

The works are accompanied by a filmed discussion series between Twomey and van Essen, revealing the artist-curator partnership and developing dialogue around the challenges of creating works in a public space.

This event is part of South London Art Map Last Fridays.