A journey into the mysterious…
Published November 1, 2009[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYZQVEYqXhs]
This song is to me both camp and sublime – the words remind me of journeys I make in my mind when sitting in a forest or hill top.
The search for beauty and meaning has lead me to Shamanism and lately C. Jung’s writings on the collective unconsciousness and the archetypes.
The techniques I have learned through my studies have helped my art no end. Sometimes fully formed sculptures emerge in my mind’s eye – It is almost as if they just land there, asking to be created in clay. I know they have been waiting in my unconscious all along, and it is just a case of me recognizing them.
Below is a quote on the mysterious from Albert Einstein;
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man… I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence — as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.”
Autumn mist and ferns – part four; the bronze age settlement
Published October 17, 2009
I am still living and dreaming ferns and clay. While walking across the East Hill in lemon afternoon sunlight, I imagine a bronze age settlement alive with people and horses. A woman from the camp walks towards me across the bracken. Her shape is dark against the sun but I know she is smiling.
When I got home I made a ceramic torso with a fern from the hills. I daubed a thin coat of manganese oxide on her body and made the fern bright green using copper oxide and transparent glaze. The size is 50cm x 35 cm and she is made to hang on the wall. I have made the torso look as though it has been recently unearthed from some archaeological dig with holes and cracks incorporated in the design.
Autumn mist and ferns – part three; glass
Published October 7, 2009
The ferns are changing colour every day now. I am still busy taking their impressions.
It occurred to me that incorporating glass in the clay may look nice.
And a way of doing that may be to use mosaic tesserae. It is worth a try, so here I am scraping away clay to create a little pool for them to lie in. 
I want to prevent the glass from floating across the bowl any old way during the bisque firing when temperature will reach 1050 C and the glass will melt….
here’s hoping.
From plaster to clay…
Published May 11, 2009
My life cast mould of Luke has finally dried out enough for me to try it out, and today I will make a ceramic torso from it. I am curious to see how it will behave – will it release easily enough?
To see earlier posts on life casting, mould making and smoke firing please scroll down the page.
Making a mould from a life cast.
Published April 20, 2009I was beginning to feel jinxed after having tried three times to get a decent life cast of Luke – you can see my earlier attempts in previous blog entries.
This weekend was my last chance to get it right! 
This is the original life cast as I was ripping away the plaster bandages. I then needed to pour plaster on top of it in order to make a mould. Preferably without it getting stuck together or caught by under cuts. So I was soft soaping and remodelling the cast until the early hours of the morning when I finally felt brave enough to pour in the plaster.
And the next day it was time to separate the two lumps of plaster and despite cutting my hands to ribbons with a spatula – it worked!
Now all I need to do is clean up the mould and start working with clay to create a ceramic torso! It has been such a long process and I just can’t wait to get back in the studio to see how it’ll turn out! To see more ceramic torsos please go to www.ANNAKEILLER.co.uk
Fat Birds
Published January 28, 2009I went out into the garden this morning – it was raining. As I stood drinking my coffee, looking at the dark shiny clods of earth, I saw that tender pink Rhubarb shoots had broken through; pale green leaves still curled tight against the cold.
I thought about how the earth had taken the shape of Rhubarb, how there was a possibility of Rhubarb and suddenly, one January morning, there it was, tender, wobbly, prone to slug attack.
I then thought about my Fat Birds and how they were born in a similar fashion from wet clay.
I spent many months thinking about birds and watching them before going into the studio. I saw fat woodpigeons squabbling in the hawthorn, seagulls chasing air currents on a windy day, a tiny robin singing with the voice of silver bells from a tree branch. There was a possibility of Fat Birds.
Later on in my studio the first Fat Bird emerged almost by itself. I had to make very few changes and adaptations.
Because of Fat Birds fondness for the naked fire, I had to find out how to expose them to it without them blowing up in the process. In the end, smoke firing them in a galvanised dustbin filled with sawdust and Fat Birds and then set alight achieved that mottled effect I had in my mind’s eye. I have made hundreds of birds since that day, but I feel that each bird is here on her own terms, telling the story about what it is like to be a Fat Bird.
To see more of my work please go to www.ANNAKEILLER.co.uk
Ceramic Workshops
Published January 24, 2009
At my studio in Hastings I run unique short ceramic workshops where I cover basic techniques such as coiling, slab building, press moulding and smoke firing.
Come and discover how much fun you can have with a piece of clay!
The courses are run from a fantastic period house overlooking historic Hastings Old town. In the summer the French doors are open towards the garden and the sea, and in the winter months a log fire in the ornate marble fireplace warms the room. There are two courses to choose from: To find out more about starting dates please email me here .
Course one – five workshop sessions covering essential ceramic techniques such as coiling, slab building, press moulding and smoke firing. Each session is 2.5 hours long and new courses start every month either weekdays or weekends.
Course costs just £110 + materials (approx. £10)
Course two – three workshop sessions focusing on unique smoke firing techniques which I have developed over many years using sawdust and galvanised dustbins! A lot of fun and amazingly easy to learn. The sessions are between 1.5 and 2.5 hours long (6.5 hours in total), and the course cost just £60 + materials (approx. £5)
life casting
Published January 10, 2009
To create my torsos, I cast a model in plaster and then I make a mould from the cast. Each torso is press moulded using tiny pieces of clay which I incise with different patterns before joining them together.
The torso is then fired in an electric kiln before it is smoke fired.
To see more please go to my website www.annakeiller.co.uk.
My idea when I made this torso was to show the human body as a landscape, or at one with the land – Mother Earth personified.
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