An exhibition at The University of Liverpool's Victoria Gallery and Museum celebrates the career of a Liverpool-based ceramicist. Louise Waller – 20 Years of Clay is dedicated to the work she has created over the years.
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00:00 An exhibition at the University of Liverpool's Victoria Gallery and Museum
00:04 celebrates the career of a Liverpool-based ceramicist. Louise Waller,
00:09 20 years of clay, is dedicated to the work she's created over the past two decades.
00:13 So I finally feel proud of myself and of the exhibition. When it first
00:20 opened in June it was part of the Independence Biennial and it felt quite
00:25 overwhelming and I wasn't quite sure I was happy with what I've done but
00:33 I've come to realise and accept that actually this is a pause in my process.
00:37 It's 20 years but it's not like the end or it's not oh yeah now it all makes
00:42 sense it's just documenting where I'm at right now and from this I'm getting a
00:46 lot of ideas of what I'd like to do next how I'd like to push things further.
00:50 For this show Louise has created a new collection of ceramics that revisit
00:54 designs she worked on back in 2003. I do think some of this came from a drawing
01:00 that I did of a 1960s telephone in Quiggins back in the early 2000s. If you
01:05 make a shape like this that looks solid but has to be hollow so that it doesn't
01:10 weigh down the vessel it's attached to and you have to have a little pinhole in
01:14 it so that the air can escape as it's drying out it would otherwise break and
01:18 that little pinhole really used to bug me so I just took a notion one day to
01:24 just think if it has to have a hole in it I'm gonna work with it and I'm gonna
01:27 cover it in holes. Most recently Louise collaborated with the community of
01:31 Prescott on a prestigious project to create almost 400 ceramic money boxes
01:36 that are now on permanent display in the box office of Shakespeare North Playhouse.
01:42 For this I wanted to actually make some art for art's sake so I've made
01:49 everything functionless and I've got a catwalk display of kind of vases with
01:57 quirky handles now the handles are sometimes the vessel the geometric shape
02:01 is usually the vase. Like many artists Louise juggles her own creative practice
02:07 with employment in related fields. It's resulted in a rich and eclectic
02:11 experience as a freelance artistic educator running workshops and
02:16 conducting gallery talks all contributed to her unique visual language. I'm
02:21 actually really proud that I've managed to keep making for the whole 20 years
02:25 because it's it's not easy finding access to kilns and studios and that's
02:31 been an ongoing battle really. I've taught, I've been artist in residence, I've
02:38 done workshops, anything in return for a bit of access to a kiln but actually
02:42 everything that I've done over that time whilst not making my pottery has
02:47 informed my designs so although this is like 20 years of clay in that past 20
02:53 years I've worked at Tate Liverpool for 19 of those years. Louise Waller 20 years
02:58 of clay runs until the 17th of February 2024.