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Ceramic cat by a young David Hockney

Life-size black and white ceramic cat by David Hockney

Ceramic Cat
David Hockney 1955

On loan from Jean and Paul Hockney.

This cat was given to David Hockney’s brother and sister-in-law as a wedding present in September 1955. It was one of approximately four cats made by the artist whilst a student at Bradford College of Art. After the model was produced the mould broke, making this sculpture unique as it was the only one with indentations. Subsequent versions were produced with a smooth finish and in different colours.

This life-size ceramic cat with stubby little legs is in one of the display cases in the ground floor of Salts Mill alongside many other pieces by David Hockney.

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Maria Blaisse and her work

Maria Blaisse, Gomma, 2003, tubes. Image from Augenweide (i.e. Beatrice Oettinger). (image source)

The other evening, a friend introduced me to Maria Blaisse’s work as well as the lovely book The Emergence of Form published by nai010. The dedication evident in her output is incredible, and her canal-side studio in Amsterdam sounds pretty great. Wish I could find one of the images from the book online, it’s a black and white photo possibly taken in the 70s of her working on a woven piece with an enormous knot in the middle that’s easily twice her height. Will just have to buy the book (like I need an excuse).

Sidenote, Augenweide (source for the image) is a very enjoyable browse, glad to have come across it.

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On Kitty Anderson’s talk about Carol Bove’s work, and on visiting the Barnes Foundation

I recently attended the talk Supporting Structures: The use of plinths and platforms in Carol Bove’s work at the Henry Moore Institute. Kitty Anderson’s talk coincided with the Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa exhibition in the Institute’s main gallery spaces.

Installation view of the Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute

Installation view of the Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute, Gallery 1. Photo via blog Books & Boots (image source)

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Carol Bove on being an artist, excerpt from AKADEMIE X

One question is, how do you create a way of being in the world that allows new things (ideas, information, people, places) into your life without letting everything in?

Carol Bove’s work is currently part of the Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute. Sam pointed out a recent tweet from the Institute sharing the article linked above, v. glad to come across it and that Artspace was able to publish the extract in full.

Hope to get my hands on this book. In the meantime, see further extracts from AKADEMIE X on Artspace (links at bottom of Bove’s excerpt).

Incidentally, the exhibition is excellent, revisit it when it’s not quite as busy.