2019 AWARD WINNER | Manchester School of Art

Erum Aamir

BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design | Manchester Metropolitan University

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1. Tell us about yourself, your work, and your career path so far.

Being a physicist for many years, I was always fascinated by how nature constructs something atom by atom or cell by cell. The patterns that lay regularly deep down in matter and living organisms, creating irregular forms and shapes, intrigued my creative being to take control over my scientific self. I decided to leave behind my career as a physicist to adopt a new one as a ceramic artist. The journey I took from being a physicist to a ceramicist was an extremely exciting one. It was a whole different world for me but the most exciting.

My practice exhibits the work made by hand without use of any technologies. I use all hand-building processes such as slab building, pinching and coiling. I consider my work as sculptures even if they are in vessel-like forms. Working directly with the clay, with a very limited use of tools or equipment, helps me to create the mutual understanding between me and my beloved medium; clay. I do not really design things before I start making them as I prefer to let the ideas happen during the slow making and thinking process. In my work, there’s always a repetition of single or more than one element which mimics the process of growth by repetition. I like this repetitive action – it’s not a thoughtless activity but is meditative and comforting. Moreover, the repetitive nature of bringing together many components creates a rhythm and facilitates an active trance of intention.  

2. Describe your first encounter with clay?

My first encounter with the clay was when I was 5 years old. I used to play in the garden with soil, mixing it with water and trying to sculpt shapes out of it. So working with clay was always natural to me, like reading and writing.

3. Why did you choose ceramics?

Ceramics is the medium I chose because, in my opinion, clay has a mind and a memory of its own. To work successfully, one has to develop a mutual understanding with it. The method I use, including surface design, ensures that each piece is a separate and individual piece of work.

4. Where do you find inspiration? Places, people, objects, music...

All of my ideas are based upon my observations of nature which I record in the form of drawings and photographs. I inspire by the details in depth, which are hidden from a naked eye, therefore, I explore through the eye of a microscope. It helps me to establish that nature is beautiful inside out. The great collection of microscopic slides, available at the herbarium at Manchester museum, provides me with a vast opportunity to look through the beautiful slides made by the botanists of late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Sometimes the compositions found in the microscopic study and my imagination’s interpretation bypasses what is found in nature. This blurred line between reality and created reality intrigues me.  If only for a moment, one might lose themselves in the curiosity of the composition, perhaps creating a personal narrative with the piece.  This process of creation and exploration forms a shared experience between us.

5. What are the tools of your trade that you can't do without?

I make my sculptures using my hands. The tools I use are a pin tool and wooden sculpting tools but the most important one from all of them is the paper clay. Paper pulp in clay helps to bring pre-fire strength and flexibility to my work. It also helps to make the work as lighter and as thinner as possible.

6. What is a typical day in the studio like?

The kind of work I make takes hours and hours of continuous hard work. So my typical day starts with mixing stains in the clay and then starting the process of repetitive making for long periods of time. I listen to music whilst making which helps me to keep the rhythm in the creating of several repetitive elements which I use in my work. The day ends with securing the left over clays for further use and cleaning the studio for the next day.

7. What do the next 12 months have in store for you?

I will be exhibiting at Wells Cathedral in July. Also, I am taking part in this year’s Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair which is in October. G K Gallery of Manchester offered me an exhibition however, the dates are yet to be confirmed. I have also put a project proposal in the Manchester Museum’s Heritage futures program which has been accepted, so I am looking forward to working with the museum.

8. What advice do you have for those currently studying ceramics in further education?

I would advise those currently studying ceramics to thoroughly explore all different kinds of practices of working with clay before choosing one to expertise in. Whether it is throwing, hand-building or slip-casting, a hands on experience will help to choose the right practice. The sky is the limit so never be afraid to break the boundaries.