I found shallow paper strawberry containers at a reduce/reuse art materials place. I thought they might be the perfect thing to inspire small strawberry clay pinch pots. I had the students break their clay in half, and then break each of those halves in half (bringing in the idea of fractions Whole, 1/2, and 1/4). We did not write names on them, but created them “factory” style…where everyone was making strawberry pinch pots, and you knew you would get four back to paint & take home. We started by creating small pinch pots, and then pinched the outside to make it into a strawberry shape(I had picture references up on the board). After firing, students painted them with tempera & took them home the same day! The kids loved the project, and I heard from many teachers & parents that they too loved the project.
face-angles, zig-zag digital print, Lynne Cameron, 2025. Limited edition of 20. Available from the shop
Soon the paintings will come down from the wall. Months to organise, to prepare paintings and texts, physical work to hang, events to hold – it’s been a major project, and it’s over. I will remember how family and friends turned up from various corners of the country, and beyond, to support me and my work on the wall. How precious these people are.
In the making of this digital print, I felt the exhibition reduce, condense, and fade under my hands.
On one of the final days, I took my crayons and made a quick drawing – six of the paintings are pairs or groups of mysterious people engaged in silent conversation, like stills from an unmade film. I drew the angles of their faces as they talked to each other there in the exhibition. Ephemeral conversations, as my friend and colleague Cornelia Müller described them. Soon to be lost as the unmade film rolls on.
Face-angles, crayon drawing
Back home I set up my living space as studio for the first time in months, spent time looking at notes and sketches for unfinished projects and ideas not yet taken into practice. I made a copy of the face-angles drawing to preserve so I could work into the original. The ‘woody’ crayons I used are water-soluble; I worked into them with a wet brush, pulling the colour across the page so that the lines lengthened.
face-angles, crayon drawing brushed with water
In response to the wet page, printmaking suggested itself. On the paper that had wrapped fresh bread, crumpled and uncertainly absorbent, I re-drew the original nest of face-angles, dampened it and pressed down on to it clean sheets of paper. The 4th and 5th prints pulled off were interesting to my eye. A hint of chrysanthemums – related to mourning here in the UK but, in Japan, symbolic of rejuvenation and rebirth. I’ll take that.
face-angles, monoprint
I hang the original copied, the original made wet, and the print on the wall.
face-angles, triptych
I remember the zig-zag book I had thought about producing months ago. Scan, copy, print, collage until I collect the three on one page, and fold the paper into a zig-zag.
