Malcolm Law

Skimbleshanks

Stoneware sculpture made from T Material with underglaze colours gold and platinum lustre. Slabbing and hand modelling. Hand brushed application of glaze, underglazes and lustres. Hand embossed typography using metal type.

THE PANDEMIC EFFECT

This major piece of work, ‘Skimbleshanks’, contributed to my survival d uring the Coronavirus lockdown.

I have always liked steam trains and had a model railway in the middle of the last century. This work is based on the poem, “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat” by T. S. Eliot and is influenced by the wonderful work of both Heath Robinson and Roland Emmet. Whilst researching I was amazed at the astonishing scale of Victorian locomotives with their huge driving wheels. I have experimented with scale to enhance the story telling of the work particularly in the case of the train passing through the tunnel. Using metal type I embossed words from the poem into the surface of the sphere and relevant times are included in the work.

It was a joy to create, although there were some tricky moments during the firing stages - exhibition piece or hardcore?

Can you find the small reference to the pandemic within the work?