Nathan Barnard

BA (Hons) Ceramics

Sculpting Sensorial Encounters: A Multimodal Approach

Our experience of the world is governed by sensorial perception, and with each material interaction our tacit knowledge builds. I experiment with materials to challenge this often forgotten facility, to prompt consideration of the deeper emotional capacity contained in our sensory encounters.

I hand build abstract sculptures combining multiple ceramic processes from plaster casting to throwing. I use the wheel in unconventional ways to carve out clay blocks turning into them rather than throwing outward. I utilise these processes to create a space in which a viewer can connect more deeply with objects and textures that often go overlooked.

A most common ceramic object used on a daily basis and yet, rarely recognised as produced through ceramic processes, is the sink. The bathroom as a whole is a place in which we can feel both vulnerable and safe, the one room in the house that has a lock, where it is necessary to be naked; it demands a level of intimacy.

This vulnerability can be explored through the sensorial capacity of clay, using cracking, peeling slip to evoke a shiver, a sense of unravelling, dissolving and cleansing so that alongside the objects function, our awareness of the activity of sensorial perception is brought to the fore.


Mae ein profiad o’r byd yn cael ei lywodraethu gan ganfyddiad synhwyraidd, ac mae ein gwybodaeth ddealledig yn cynyddu gyda phob rhyngweithio materol. Rwy’n arbrofi gyda deunyddiau i herio’r ddawn hon, sy’n cael ei anghofio’n aml, er mwyn annog ystyriaeth o’r gallu emosiynol dyfnach sydd yn rhan o’n cyfarfyddiadau synhwyraidd.

Rwy’n adeiladu cerfluniau haniaethol â llaw sy’n cyfuno prosesau cerameg lluosog, o gastio plastr i daflu. Rwy’n defnyddio’r olwyn mewn ffyrdd anghonfensiynol i gerfio blociau clai, gan droi i mewn iddyn nhw yn hytrach na’u taflu am allan. Caiff y prosesau hyn eu defnyddio i greu gofod lle gall y gwyliwr gysylltu’n ddyfnach â gwrthrychau a gweadau sy’n aml yn cael eu hanwybyddu.

Gwrthrych cerameg cyffredin sy’n cael ei ddefnyddio’n ddyddiol, ond un na chydnabyddir yn aml ei fod yn cael ei gynhyrchu drwy brosesau cerameg, yw’r sinc. Mae’r ystafell ymolchi yn ei chyfanrwydd yn lle y gallwn deimlo’n agored i niwed ac yn ddiogel ynddo, yr un ystafell yn y tŷ sydd â chlo, lle mae angen bod yn noeth; mae’n mynnu hyn a hyn o agosatrwydd.

Gellir archwilio’r bregusrwydd hwn drwy gapasiti synhwyraidd clai, gan ddefnyddio slip sy’n cracio a philio i ennyn cryndod, ymdeimlad o ddatod, toddi a glanhau, fel bod ein hymwybyddiaeth o ganfyddiad synhwyraidd ar waith yn dod i’r amlwg ar y cyd â swyddogaeth y gwrthrych.

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