Sharon digs deep for ceramic inspiration
08/06/2005
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) Art and Design Degree Shows 2005 have special meaning for BA (Hons) Ceramics student Sharon Green – the chance to turn her father’s mining tools into works of art.
(Above) Sharon Green with her artwork. Photo: Malcolm Bennett.
Two decades later, the former crown court justices clerk joined a local art group and sold some water colour paintings before taking the plunge and enrolling at UWIC in 2001.
The mum-of-three from Cwmparc, Treorchy, will be exhibiting ceramic designs partly based on the real shovel her father Brian used at Fernhill Colliery.
For Sharon, 45, who graduates in July, the exhibition is more than just a chance to show the world her artistic skills.
Over the past few years Sharon and her family have been renovating a farmhouse at Parc Isaf, the site of a former pit where her grandfather Thomas once worked.
The restoration process rekindled in Sharon a passion for art, dormant since she was accepted, but turned down, a place at Cardiff College of Art 25 years ago.
And to keep the family tradition alive and well, her eldest son Shaun, 18, will be enrolling at UWIC to study product design in September.
Sharon will have two main pieces on display during the Art and Design Degree Shows, a ceramic work based on mining shovels and picks and another inspired by a roof bolt she spotted while doing extensive research at the Big Pit museum at Blaenavon.
“My inspiration comes from my locality and the lack of the mining industry and my glazing techniques from the erosion of the mountain sides around me,” explained Sharon.
“I wanted to produce something that said something about me, my family and where I live and I hope I have done that.”
Sharon worked on her ceramic pieces over the past year and each one is textured with an eroded surface.
And she has already approached the Big Pit Museum to see if they would be interested in here work once the exhibition has finished.
“I would love the pieces to go to the Big Pit because they were so helpful to me and gave me so much inspiration.
“The whole process has been quite exciting and experimental and I have enjoyed every minute of it.”
Meanwhile Sharon is doing more studying to qualify as an art teacher while hoping her career as a ceramic artist can also take off.
Later this month she is going to Islington, London to exhibit her pieces at New Designers (June 30 to July 3, a display for new artists), and they will then appear at Tredegar House Contemporary Ceramics Fair on July 9 and 10.
“I would love to become a professional ceramic artist, but we shall have to see,” added Sharon.
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