Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.In the summer of 2021, Maja Quille had an encounter that would change her practice. The Denmark-born, London-based artist was curious about local clay and had contacted MOLA, a heritage services and archaeology company, about acquiring some. MOLA found a deposit while conducting excavations near London Bridge. \u201cI got this big lump of clay out of the ground,\u201d says Quille. \u201cI had it in my hand. They said this is 50 million years old. And it was just, wow.\u201dQuille says this locally sourced clay \u2014 referred to among ceramicists as \u201cwild clay\u201d \u2014 offers a medium to explore questions about human influence on the environment. For her art, Quille overfires clay foraged from the Thames along with the debris embedded within it, such as glass, coins and plastics. She then documents the lava-like results. Her work will be included in Pangolin London\u2019s January 2025 exhibition, Earth Unwrapped.She sees this as city life compacted \u2014 glitter butting up against ancient fossils and organic matter. \u201cThere is a really interesting relationship between clay, industry and place,\u201d says Quille. \u201cWe have lost that connection when we build now.\u201dQuille\u2019s art is unique, but her interest in wild clay is not. From sculptural pieces to tableware, a new movement has taken hold among ceramicists.\u201cEven if you\u2019re using a commercial clay, it has a history,\u201d says French ceramicist and sculptor Jeanne Fran\u00e7ois. \u201cBut you don\u2019t know how much it has damaged the soil; how much it has changed the territory. Doing the digging myself allows me to understand more.\u201d Fran\u00e7ois studied ceramics and glass at the Royal College of Art in London. She constructs sculptural objects by playing with layers and textures, and creates wall-mounted tiles showcasing various wild clays.I got this big lump of clay out of the ground. I had it in my hand. They said this is 50 million years old. And it was just, wowWild clay presents unique challenges. Artisans typically rely on large commercial operations to supply clay, ensuring consistency. In contrast, foraged clay needs to be treated and tested. Consistency is nearly impossible. Often wild clay will have debris within it that needs to be sifted out. It must be dried and may need to be mixed with commercially processed clay to increase plasticity. Finding a successful firing temperature can be a game of trial and error.Fran\u00e7ois embraced these challenges during the pandemic, when she returned home to the Alpine town of Chamb\u00e9ry. All the ceramics supply stores were closed and, missing her practice, she searched for clay in nature. Fran\u00e7ois\u2019 first attempts with the material were clumsy (clay can melt if fired at too high a temperature) but she became committed to sourcing it herself.For those who find wild clay too impractical, the appeal of local clay nevertheless persists. French ceramicist Mathilde Martin works exclusively with commercial Burgundy clay for her hand-shaped sculptural vessels. She connects with the sense of place local clay brings \u2014 if she lived outside France she would not use French clay, she says. While she appreciates its experimental nature, the unpredictability and preparation that goes into using foraged clay does not suit her practice. \u201cIt\u2019s really chemistry; it\u2019s another job,\u201d Martin says.Others still have found a way to strike a balance between using commercial and wild materials. Glasgow-based Canadian potter Claire Henry became curious about wild clay during a 2023 residency in Crete. Walking on the Greek island, Henry stumbled upon a bank of red clay and took some back to her studio in Scotland.That experience led her to begin foraging closer to home. \u201cIt can be a way to connect to a place,\u201d says Henry. \u201cThere\u2019s so much depth within the land \u2014 the rock formations, the soil.\u201dHenry now regularly collects clay from the banks of the River Clyde and is experimenting with adding it to her works in the form of slip (liquefied clay used for binding or decoration). She likes the idea of using foraged clay for one-off pieces but continues to use commercial clay as the base for her ceramics, because its reliability is necessary for her earthen-hued tableware.Concerns over environmental and sustainability issues may also be driving the upsurge in wild clay use. As cities undertake more and more building projects, clay is often a byproduct dug up and offloaded elsewhere. Both Fran\u00e7ois and Quille have tapped into networks of construction sites that will give away their upturned clay and organisations such as the UK\u2019s Golden Earth Studio give excavation waste secondary uses. \u201cWith wild clay, there\u2019s so much promise,\u201d says Fran\u00e7ois. \u201cIt forces you to evolve.\u201dFind out about our latest stories first \u2014 follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.In the summer of 2021, Maja Quille had an encounter that would change her practice. The Denmark-born, London-based artist was curious about local clay and had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-154956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154958,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154956\/revisions\/154958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}