Ceramics & Glass (MA)
Chloe Monks
Born in London, Chloe spent her childhood moving around the globe before coming back to the UK to graduate from Cardiff School of Art and Design with a BA(Hons) in Ceramics. She subsequently worked in the ceramic industry in Stoke-on-Trent before self-funding a 4-month trip to India where she was an intern for Vineet Kacker and demonstrated at festivals across the country. Chloe works as a ceramic research artist; her practice heavily lies within glaze development and interrogation of sculptural forms. Her practice is informed by theoretical works that lie within Phenomenology, Surrealism and Formlessness. Chloe is open to discussion regarding the commission of certain works, visiting lecturer opportunities, exhibitions and potential residencies. For now, she continues her practice and studio-based research.
EDUCATION
2013 - Falmouth University, Art & Design Foundation Diploma, Merit
2016 - Cardiff School of Art & Design, Ceramics BA(Hons), 1st Class
2018 - Royal College of Art, Ceramics & Glass MA
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
2021 - Ryall Hill, Chapel Arts, Cheltenham
2020 - CICA, Museu de Ceràmica de l’Alcora, Spain
2020 - Amber Room, Notting Hill, London
EXHIBITIONS
2020 - RCA2020, Virtual Show
2020 - 24:4, Private Address, London
2019 - A Celebration of British Craftsmanship, Milton Gallery, London
2019 - Amber Room, Notting Hill, London
2019 - Across Borders, Sanbao Ceramic Arts Institute, Qiu Gallery, Jingdezhen
2019 - Amazon Fashion/Capgemini, Amazon, London
2019 - WIP, RCA, London
2018 - #34, CGP, London
2017 - Dust, Hanley Town Hall, Stoke-on-Trent
2016 - New Designers, BDC, London
2016 - From the Ground Up, Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff
2015 - There’s Many a Slip Twixed Cup & Lip, Craft in the Bay, Cardiff
AWARDS
2019 - South Square Trust Scholar
2019 - QEST Company of Arts Scholar
2018 - Grocer’s Bursary Scholar
2016 - Integration of Theory and Practice in Ceramics Award
2015 - Integration of Theory and Practice in Ceramics Award
2013 - Exceptional Work Award, Falmouth
RESIDENCIES
2019 - Across Borders, Sanbao Ceramic Arts Institute, Jingdezhen
2016 & 2018 Ryall Hill, Upton upon Severn, Worcester
TEACHING & WORKSHOPS
2020 - University of the Arts, Farnham University
2020 - St Pauls School, London
2019 - Winch Design, London
2019 - London Sculpture Workshop, London
PRICE LIST
For prices and commissions, please contact chloe.monks@network.rca.ac.uk
I am fascinated by the changing state of a substance. Time takes centre stage in my works: they appear to have a precariousness, the sense of not being fixed. In a moment, a work could collapse and possibly resolve itself into a pure form. My practice is heavily rooted in research, particularly into the core fluidity of glaze and flux. Often objects are realised into a series of pieces or are the continual development of a single piece. Through persistent innovation of techniques such as the testing of glazes, props, frameworks, and varying kiln atmospheres, my work embraces the opportunity of chance and effect. It allows me to continue developing a visual language in which ceramic materials are inverted in their function - glaze becomes integral to the structure, not merely a surface decoration.
Although I speak of chance and effect, the foundations of the work are carefully calculated, through a systematic methodology of planning, preparation and documentation. That being said, my making process leaves room for improvisation - knowing how I want a piece to operate, but not completely knowing where it may end up.
As a result, my practice actively blends physical form with responses to phenomenological thought. Phenomenology continues to be redefined, but we can understand it as an attempt to describe the basic structures of human experience. I have taken significant influence from the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, which suggests that information we’ve loaded onto ourselves brings an undercurrent of our being into reality. I have also ruminated over contemporary philosopher Ian Bogost’s belief that as humans we mainly think through things. A question that arises throughout his writing is: does the object have its own experience? Or is the object only activated by a human experience? My ceramic practice is a physical manifestation and investigation into my own relationship with the purity of experience. A question reflected in my work is whether there are any experiences that are free from pre-assumptions.
Fluidity — Stoneware, Glaze, 10 x 40 x 15 cm Photo Credit, Ji-Hyun Song, Contact for further details.
Fluidity — Stoneware, Glaze, 10 x 40 x 15 cm Photo Credit, Ji-Hyun Song, Contact for further details.
Tall Drop — Stoneware, Glaze, 15 x 14 x 6 cm, Contact for further details.
Drop Series — Stoneware, Glaze, 10 x 22 x 6 cm, Contact for further details.
Cobalt Ripple — Porcelain, Glaze, 15 x 20 x 7 cm, Contact for further details.
D FLUX — Porcelain, Glaze, 13 x 10 x 8 cm, Contact for further details.
‘What mode of being is symbolised by the slimy? I see first that it is the homogeneity and the imitation of liquidity. A slimy substance like pitch is an aberrant fluid. At first, with the appearance of a fluid it manifests to us a being which is everywhere fleeing and yet everywhere similar to itself…’ - Sartre, J-P. (1943) Being and Nothingness. London: Routledge. p.627
Medium:
Stoneware Ceramic, Glaze
Gum Joints I — Porcelain, Glaze, Digital Extension
Gum Joints II — Porcelain, Glaze, Digital Extension
The questions continue: how many fragments can be separate from each other until they become one? Or when a form is so fragmented, at what point is the form lost? These following fragmentary structures bring phenomenology into a perspective of the human state as well as object orientated ontology. ‘Slime is the bridging material – oozing itself forth – the connection, the join, the glue, the paste, the solidification of unison.’ - Sartre, J-P. (1943) p.620
Medium:
Porcelain, Glaze
Epoch of Simultaneity IV — Porcelain, Gas Glaze, Digital Render
Epoch of Simultaniety V — Porcelain, Gas Glaze, Digital Render
Epoch of Simultaneity — Porcelain, Gas Glaze, 45 x 28 x 24 cm
Epoch of Simultaneity — Porcelain, Gas Glaze, 45 x 28 x 24 cm
Medium:
Porcelain, Gas Glaze
Epsom — Edition of 5, Print on Aluminium, 75 x 50 cm Contact for further details.
Copper Sulphate — Edition of 5, Print on Aluminium, 75 x 50 cm Contact for further details.
Porcelain Sulphate — Edition of 5, Print on Aluminium, 75 x 50 cm Contact for further details.
This methodology rapidly became appropriate for the capturing of ephemeral moments within the growth of crystals. These dry substances deliquesce, overtime solutions had a constant change of mobilisation crystallising and growing from the inside, out of objects, wrapping itself around things such as terracotta and porcelain. From the photographs seen on this website it is clear to see how the crystal structures mimic similar actions of the larger chaotic ceramic forms.
Medium:
Epsom Salts, Copper Sulphate Crystal, Porcelain, ResinNot wanting to lose this forward momentum, I decided to digitally capture the colours and textures of the new gas glazes and began experimenting with the visualisation and creation of these works in a digital format. Using the digitally captured glazes wrapped around a 3D form, I was able to visualise what this work may have been like, if the opportunity to continue producing it had been available, and also something to work towards in the future as normality slowly returns.
Medium:
Digital ModelMedium:
PortfolioAn extract from ‘Environment & Ontology’ Chapter;
'We have a supposed idea of an experience, of our perception, our thoughts of sensing, not questioned upon consciousness but unquestioned belief in the world. We use evidence, our world and our memories, to perceive and define an experience which results in assumptions, whether we believe these assumptions or not, if we believe these assumptions its likely to have no experience at all, as we keep the memory of your last feeling of that experience in mind, not allowing new sensations to occur. We think we know what it is to see, to hear, to sense, yet perception has given us visual objects that we remember.' Page 11
Medium:
WritingGrocers Hall Bursary
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust
Website:
https://www.qest.org.uk/South Square Trust
Website:
http://www.southsquaretrust.org.uk/Engaging through materials: Collaboration, Community and Communication with ceramics and glass