Eleanor Flegg visits ceramicist Mark Campden’s Kilkenny studio to witness the process behind his gleaming table-ware
Mark Campden’s new wood-fired kiln stands at the back of his studio with the aspect of a small, exquisitely crafted temple; a thing of beauty in itself, the building of which was a labour of love. It is, strictly speaking, the opposite of a labour-saving device and will add further layers of work to his process: the procurement and stacking of fuel, the stoking of fire-boxes, the risk and drama of firing his pieces a third time. Inevitably there will be losses. Disappointments are unavoidable. But it will give him lustre: the iridescent and shining forms of pond life echoing each other around his pieces under a layer of gold.
Paula Murphy examines the background to Oisín Kelly’s immortalization of Big Jim Larkin commissioned by the workers of Ireland
Technical developments enable artistic development’: John Behan reflects on the circumstances which spurred his move to sculpture, in conversation here with Brian McAvera
Brian Fallon recalls his first impression on meeting Mary Swanzy and her Gauguin moment conceived during a visit to Samoa