Community in Clay – An exhibition of ceramic work by Christopher McHugh

This exhibition marks the culmination of ‘Community in Clay’, my doctoral project based on the 19^th century Sunderland pottery collection at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens (SMWG), and features work I have made over the last three years, including a significant number of new pieces made in the last few months. This post will focus on some of the main works, relating them to my research and the historic pottery collection.

The Pottery Gallery at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. My cabinet is next to the bust of Robert Burns. Photograph by Colin Davison, 2013.

The display is housed in the New Acquisitions cabinet in SMWG’s Pottery Gallery which Shauna Gregg, Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art, kindly emptied for me prior to my display. The cabinet comprises four shelves, with the newer work displayed on the higher ones and earlier pieces lower down. This forms a chronological ‘strata’ showing how my work has evolved over the course of the research period.

A detail of the cabinet showing the four levels. Photograph by Colin Davison, 2013.

The centrepiece of the display, on the highest shelf, is ‘The Heart of Jack Crawford’, a glass and porcelain re-imagining of what was referred to in 1887, by the editor of the Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, quoting a correspondent of the Sunderland Daily Post, as “a glass jar labelled as containing the heart of the hero of Camperdown” which had been donated to the Borough Museum of Sunderland (now SMWG) (Editor 1887). Sunderland-born Crawford (1775-1831) is said to have risked his life nailing Admiral Duncan’s colours to the mast, thereby helping to win the Battle of Camperdown (1797). Initially fêted nationally, Crawford later descended into alcoholism and was one of the first people to succumb to cholera in Sunderland in 1831. Reseacrh with the 19^th century accessions register at SMWG did indeed confirm that something described as “The Heart of Jack Crawford” entered the collection in September 1882, although further enquiry suggests that this item was not the genuine article and it appears to have been deaccessioned sometime ago. 

The Heart of Jack Crawford. Thanks to James Maskrey and Wearside Glass Sculptures for making the glass elements of this piece. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

This work develops upon earlier items which were displayed in ‘The Heart of JackCrawford: A Shrine to Unsung Heroes’, my solo show in the Gallery of Wonder, Great North Museum: Hancock in 2011. The heart is slipcast porcelain with a clear glaze and pink lustre. The glass bottle was kindly made by James Maskrey and the ship finial and wooden trophy stand were provided by Wearside Glass Sculptures, both based at the National Glass Centre, University of Sunderland. James’s work often investigates historical events and he has recently made a series of glass work relating to Scott’s Terra Nova expedition which has been acquired by the Crafts Council. Referencing the numerous heroic depictions of Jack Crawford on pots in the SMWG’s collection, this piece attempts to create a slightly tongue-in-cheek dramatisation of this urban myth, whilst also intending to stimulate a more serious consideration of how contemporary acts of bravery are commemorated. It is hoped that this celebration of this all but forgotten hero will have current resonance, particularly at a time when many men and women from the North East are serving their country in conflicts abroad.

‘The Heart of Jack Crawford’ is flanked by a series of porcelain vessels which I have made since returning from my three month placement (Jan-April 2013) at the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan. Here, I carried out research on the George Brown Collection, an assemblage of over 3000 Oceanic objects collected by the Barnard Castle-born Methodist missionary (1835-1917) during his time in the South Pacific in the later part of the 19^th century. These vessels are inspired by a collection of decorated bamboo lime containers from the Solomon Islands. In Melanesia, lime, derived from charred coral or shells, was mixed with betel nut and chewed as a mild stimulant. Some of the vessels are hand-built while others are slipcasts taken from a piece of bamboo sourced in Japan. Surface decoration is provided through the use of wooden stamps based on the incised decoration of the original containers. Taking photographs using the Instagram application provided an immediate method to visually document my time in Japan and some of this contemporary imagery has been used to create digital ceramic decals which have been synthesised with the stamped elements. Brown accumulated this collection during an age of exploration and colonisation and its strength as an ethnographic record lies in the fact that much of it was collected before widespread Western contact with the source communities. At this time, Sunderland pottery was at its apogee; the city was a busy port and pots bearing maritime imagery are common. 

Some of the vessels in the  George Brown Series. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

The next layer features the ‘Crinson Jug’ and the ‘Milburn Jug’ which represent the history of two venerable Sunderland pottery families. Two of the Crinson brothers shown on the jug served at the Battle of the Somme as members of the Durham Light Infantry, the ‘ancestors’ of Third Battalion, The Rifles (3Rifles). In ‘conversation’ with these is ‘Rifleman Hiles’ IED Brush’, a recreation in porcelain of the real tool used by Hiles to excavate ‘improvised explosive devices’ on his 2011 tour in Afghanistan with 3 Rifles. The original item was marked with a tally showing the number of devices successfully found and this information has been printed onto a ceramic tag attached to the brush. A Sunderland mug from 1842 in the DLI Museum commemorates the death of Thomas Brown, a soldier in the Durham Light Infantry, and provides an interesting precedent. Other examples of Sunderland pottery commemorating historical military campaigns, including the Crimean War and the Battle of Trafalgar, can be found in the Wartime cabinet, next to my display.

The Crinson Jug with the Milburn Jug in the background. John Henry Crinson, pictured, was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He was a descendant of the potter William Crinson who started work at Scott's Pottery, Sunderland, in 1788. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

Rifleman Hiles' IED Brush, showing the tally of IEDs. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

To the right of the jugs is ‘Grow Jesus’, a work composed of five stoneware shrines containing porcelain Jesus figurines of various sizes. Again, this is an attempt to materialise an anecdote told by another member of 3 Rifles, where he recounted how he had coped with boredom and stress in Afghanistan by periodically soaking and reshrinking a water-expandable plastic Jesus toy sent to him by a member of the British public. I recreated this process using a similar item acquired online, taking plaster moulds at various stages of engorgement. Porcelain casts were taken, thereby capturing the cyclical process of growth and shrinkage in order to create a monument to this potentially ephemeral narrative. 

One of the Grow Jesus shrines with the Thiepval Monument to the Missing of the Somme in the background. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

Further 3 Rifles-related pieces, collectively described as ‘Explorer’s Kit’, including the porcelain jugs, flasks and binoculars previously exhibited as part of Kith and Kin: New Glass and Ceramics, are displayed below this level. A new jug named after the motto of the battalion - “Swift and Bold” - brings together printed images of the soldiers’ tattoos and lucky charms. During the heyday of Sunderland pottery, local lads looking for employment and adventure, like Jack Crawford, and later George Brown, went off to sea to explore the world. These days, young people in a similar position might decide to join the armed forces. Indeed, a significant proportion of recruits to 3 Rifles comes from the North East, with others coming from former colonies like Fiji, one of the places where George Brown was active as a missionary.

Detail of Explorer's Kit. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

A reworking of ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’, an ever-growing piece consisting of multiple cast porcelain objects, forms the bottom layer. Rather than a glass shelf like the others, this level is wrapped in the blue fabric case lining and these fictitious archaeological ‘small finds’ gain further credence from this traditional museum display format. Chronologically, this work is the earliest on display, first shown as part of the group show, Unfinished Business at Wallington. The boots, cast from moulds of Action Man boots, are inscribed with text, some of which is based on poetry and prose written by members of the Foyle Street Writers after a workshop in the Pottery Gallery. Alongside the many intact pots in the Sunderland collection are some pot sherds excavated from the sites of former Sunderland potteries. My ‘contemporary relics’ perhaps serve as a memento mori, inviting us to ponder what material remnants will be left of our society in the future. This time, the majority of the small elements are housed in three old wooden boxes sourced from a Japanese flea market. These boxes, brought back from a country which has recently suffered a combined natural and man-made disaster, where people’s homes and memories have literally been washed away, are intended to add an extra degree of poignancy to this iteration of ‘Flotsam and Jetsam’, and are an abridged form of a larger scale installation I held while I was in Japan. 

Flotsam and Jetsam, photograph by Colin Davison

A detail of Flotsam and Jetsam, UAPS Gallery, Osaka. Photograph by Christopher McHugh, 2013.

Click here to see slideshow of exhibition.

References

Editor 1887. ‘Jack Crawford [Notes and Corrections]’, Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, Vol 1. (no 2; April). P. 91.

Previously advertised as running from 1 June - 28 July, 2013,  Community in Clay is still open until further notice in the Pottery Gallery at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. 

Information for visitors to the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens can be found here.

Community in Clay is a Festival of the North East event. 

See more images of the exhibition here.