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this
week
What
a week!
 Creating
pottery is not just a question of talent, but requires an innate
talent to imagine the finished piece. Artist Julie Apap explains
to Marika Azzopardi
I have my shop open daily between four and seven in the evening.
So I always try to keep my mornings free. Whenever I have no work
at home and no errands out, I come to the studio as early as 9.00
am. Many times on a previous evening I would have students in
for classes. If I have had lessons I give the studio a good cleaning
and clearing out. My students always do clear up after lessons
are over, but I like to do it my way, and have everything spick
and span before I start out on new projects. Somehow I cannot
work properly at my pottery unless I am certain things are just
so.
Usually I prefer concentrating on a favourite project, but if
there are orders to complete, I eventually have to get around
to doing them too. I am presently working on rather big pieces
for an upcoming collective exhibition in which I am participating
with other local female artists. I do not usually do very large
pieces for various reasons. One reason is that a large piece takes
up a whole kiln and there would not be space for other items during
the same firing. Another reason is that large pieces may need
to be sectioned off before the final composition is put together.
Being at the studio does not involve simply creating. I have
to recycle used clay from projects which are discarded by myself
or my students. Then I throw pots (on the wheel) and prepare colours,
paints and glazes. It can be quite mundane at times, but the background
work is necessary anyhow to enable me to complete anything in
the end.
I rush back home, which is luckily not far from the studio, to
prepare lunch for myself and my husband. We always share our lunches,
which is good as we meet during his lunch hour. In the afternoon
when he returns to work, I possibly stay in, working on the computer,
going through my various email messages and reading. I adore reading
and at any one time I always have three books going. Two of the
books I am immersed in at the moment are my typically favourite
topics: pottery with a really technical book about glazes; and
religion with a book by the Indian writer Deepak Chopra. No, I
don’t like light topics for my books, I truly prefer the
serious stuff. In fact I’ve been off light reading for quite
some time now.
During shop hours I stay at the studio. When I have lessons my
evening may stretch until half eight. When it’s that late
my husband comes to pick me up and once again we share a bite.
It is literally a bite at that time of day, since we have our
main meal at noon and prefer having a small snack in the evening.
My husband enjoys a film on TV. However, unless it’s a really
good one, it wouldn’t tempt me from abandoning my reading.
I’ve just become the grandmother of a beautiful baby boy.
To be quite honest, it still hasn’t sunk in, so I cannot
really say much about grandmother-hood. I have promised to baby-sit
three mornings a week eventually when my daughter returns to her
job. I’ll have to work my timetable around that then, but
I’m quite eager to embrace this new phase. My son still lives
at home but quite honestly I don’t see much of him unfortunately
– he’s always out and about.
Thursday mornings when I have my morning classes, and any other
day of the week, I spend the whole day at the studio. Those are
the days during which I fire the kiln. The first firing lasts
eight hours whilst the second one which is the glaze firing, lasts
between six and eight. I prefer to stay and monitor the whole
process even though the kilns automatically switch off each time
their set task is completed.
The actual throwing is quick, but before that you have to work
the clay up. If done manually, this is much the same as kneading
dough and has to be done to eliminate the air bubbles within the
material. Should these remain trapped in the clay, they would
cause the article to crack in the kiln.
I feel the longest part of creating a clay article, is the thinking
about it. Thinking what to invent. Imagining what the finished
piece should and will look like. I love creativity. In fact, before
I realised that pottery was what I wanted to do, I tried my hand
at various handcrafts. I would get itchy fingers if I kept away
from anything manual long enough.
My favourite subject is the vessel. Pots, containers, vessels.
Somehow there is an awesome quality to the vessel, it could hold
much but really holds nothing within its space. There is also
the element of creating something which will be useful to myself
or whoever receives it.
My inspiration? I get that easily here in Malta. I love the colours,
the texture of stone. The churches are something exceptional.
If I could, I would get pieces of clay and press them in those
pieces works of art engraved on the stone walls within. Then the
rough stones and the temples are simply awesome. I’ve reached
the stage where, when I go back to the UK and see the soft greens
and browns there, I simply receive no inspiration at all. However,
I don’t use strong colours for my works. My favourites are
still the muted shades.
Yes I feel Maltese. I have been living here for 35 years now,
I adopted Malta and Malta adopted me and even though my ways may
still echo other cultures, I enjoy my life here.
I don’t think there is anything quite like pottery. And
the experience of immersing myself in my work, at the studio,
quietly working away with no interruptions. Just me and my clay.
More
about Julie and her work on:
http://www.maltamag.com/art/apap.html
http://www.sacred-sights.com/julie/
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