Convergence / by Justin Harrison


I have the phrase 3 rivers echoing round at the moment - I’m not sure why yet …but then that’s been the case recently. I follow some firefly off into the woods, intrigued but blind to the path I’m taking. SOmetime language leads and sometimes it obscures. It’s hard to know which is which at times.

I want to make more clay slip drawings. And I hope that this is developement from it. I liked the first one I made how it spoke back to me and how it felt in the making. It also taught me a lesson or two… but then work that matters will do that - push you and demand of you more than you want to give.

I’m asking what form do I want to draw and why? This will require more practice based research. I can repeat the paddle form I had begun with and it may be that it’s what I continue with. But I also want to push it further and deeper - to expand from it.

What has come about is the idea of using clay from threee rivers, three different tones. I could even blend the clays to gradiate.

The first thought that comes to mind is about coalescence an individuality and yet community- wait that sounds kinda familiar…

Three sources of fluid movement and passage. One enters the river at any point an can potentially leave at any time. No clear entrance or exit. Flow

I know I can find red clay, grey clay occuring naturally and I hope a cream. It does make me wonder how many different colour clays naturally occurring clays exist. And then what wall/location I can make the work upon. The locaion will profoundly affect the work as I like it to be inresponse to it’s environment.

I’ve also been wonder in about entering and exiting the liminal. What does it look like? How can we track it? What prompts it? Entering change. Exiting change. Do we ever leave change?

On another note I was reminded of Four rivers in Genesis

Pishon 

Gihon 

Hiddekel 

Euphaties 

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭ASV