Morag MacInnes makes both domestic ware - earthenware plates, platters
and pots - and smoke fired dogs and other sculpture, mermaids and chests. Morag is
interested in myths archetypes and symbolic imagery that reoccurs across time,countries and continents. Primitive and ancient cultures appeal to her and
she enjoys creating a humourous new twist on old themes.
She wants to make objects with resonance that feel as if they have existed before, objects that
capture the essential nature of the story whether a light joke or a dark secret.
She has a studio in Bristol where she lives and a studio in Andalucia
where she spends several months each year. She has had many exhibitions in the UK and in Spain and she works to commission.
Morag is currently working on a new collection of sky rockets. RE ENTRY reimagines sky rockets from other planets, materialised on Planet Earth.
Morag describes them as
raw dogs that distill an essence of dog and by working intuitively and experimentally they have gradually evolved. The deep mysterious smoked surfaces are often mistaken for wood or metal and each dog has its own
very peculiar primeval character and strong presence.
Dogs descended from wolves and were first domesticated around 2,000 years ago. They have been worshipped as gods and have fulfilled many roles from hunters and guides to guardians and friends. In Germany, man's inner schweinhund represents inner inertia and laziness that must be conquered. In many cultures the dog is attributed with psychic sense - a black dog is often seen as an omen of death. These dogs that Morag makes carry an emotional energy which can be interpreted in many ways. In dreams, dogs often act as guides. Much like seeing eyes, the dogs lead us to worlds we cannot see.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Dobbles Cornish T material or heavily grogged clay.
Nail and pebble teeth and claws are embedded in the soft clay before firing.
Some dogs are embossed with type face. My slips have been developed over many years. Patterns are created using oxides applied to green ware and after burnishing.
Slips are applied and burnished
Initial oxidation gas firing to 1000C
Second smoke firing is either 12 to 15 hours in a brick kiln using sawdust, or via a pit firing of up to 48 hours using sawdust, wood, dung and other organic materials
Morag tends to work in themes, and she experiments and explores different ways of painting and designing. She likes to give a modern wry take on her chosen subject matter - mermaids on shell mobile phones or digesting a fish picnic, females cavorting naked enjoying domestic tasks, Eve baking apple pie.
She makes a range of unusual shapes, platters, sets of dinner plates and side plates and bowls. All the work is hand made using either her own moulds or coiled / slab construction techniques. Consequently the work is very individual with the hand of the maker evident. The immediacy and freshness of hand-painted images combined with the artisan process make each piece different and unique.
The work is made to be used and enjoyed, especially with food.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
The earthernware range of domestic ware is made with terracotta clay using a coloured slip base. Underglazes and oxides are painted on the raw piece using sgraffito techniques. After biscuit firing to 1000C a clear glaze is applied which is then fired to 1080C.
RE ENTRY is a collection of imagined sky rockets from other planets materialised on Planet Earth. The work is hand-built from clay, biscuit-fired,
then Raku-glazed and fired to 1,000 degrees centigrade. The intense elemental Raku process involves lifting the red hot pieces from the kiln,
plunging them into sawdust, and finally submerging them in cold water; it echoes the narrative.
Molten matter, smoke, flames, steam. Burnt blistered rockets. Glinting, metallic, space-probes, battered, dark and dangerous. Gleaming spaceships and
sputniks. Each piece with its own mysterious story. All arrived from unknown places ...
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Dobbles Cornish T material or heavily grogged clay.
Slips are applied and burnished
Initial oxidation gas firing to 1000C
Second smoke firing is either 12 to 15 hours in a brick kiln using sawdust, or via a pit firing of up to 48 hours using sawdust, wood, dung and other organic materials