Chloe Monks: Selected works, 2023
Chloe Monks works in a process-intensive manner, using practice as a means of self-discovery and exploration of material potential. Her practice is deeply rooted in research, particularly in glaze chemistry, pursuing glaze as a sculptural form and exploring her fascination with achievable surface finishes. Through continual technical experimentation, such as glaze labs, novel casting methods, bespoke frameworks, and varying kiln atmospheres, Monks’ work embraces the opportunities of chance and its effects.
Inspired by writers such as Tim Ingold, Susanne Wedlich, Ian Bogost, and Michael Polanyi, Monks explores the act of thinking through objects. Her focus lies in the phenomenology of being a thing or an object, examining interactions and perceptions within spaces of uncertainty. Monks is drawn towards natural phenomena that mirror liquid types, slimes, skins, cellular forms, and the formless nature of glaze.
Since 2020, a severe skin condition (TSW) has transformed Monks’ relationship with clay. The manipulation and experimentation evident in her Corium series reflect the physical rupture of Monks’ skin through split and eruptive surfaces. This experience has led Monks to view her ceramic objects as expressions of skin, highlighting the fragility of our body’s barriers and the vicious nature of bodily flare-ups.
In her studio practice, Monks approaches making in two distinct ways. One involves controlled glaze formulation, carefully revising variables and understanding glaze chemistry to predict its behaviour and outcomes. This research and development serve both her personal projects, educational provision, and commission-based consultancy. The second approach to making is characterised by uncertainty, freedom, and intuitive exploration. Monks employs hand building, slab building, press moulding, and slip casting, using glaze akin to clay. Her works often take on fragmentary or amorphous forms, reflecting the formlessness inherent in glaze as both a skin and a state of matter.
Corium Series
The Corium series is an articulation of the relationship Chloe has developed with both clay and her own skin and explores the rawness of clay slip and the eruptive nature of carefully calculated inclusions. The works reflect the physical and visual breaking of skin through its split surface. This series is named ‘Corium’ due to its definition of ‘the deep inner layer of the skin’.
Lavish Flow
‘Lavish Flow’ is a series of works that come together as a ceramic wall installation delving into the flow of glaze by artist Chloe Monks. When displayed together, the works are displayed in a museological manner – as though they are archaeological fragments. The shapes forms and floating fragments express freedom, immediacy, and movement. Chloe has presented an array of glaze batches, that are salvaged from leftover glaze experiments and teaching workshops, that showcase the range of glazes that have been repurposed.
Katsura & Cercis
This series of work introduced me to using digital technologies such as Rhino for design and a 3D printer to print PLA pieces to create multiple plaster mould pieces. These works challenged the possibilities with slip casting through their form and their size and multiple parts. The forms provide a different kind of canvas to celebrate the decorative features of glaze.
Captions
- Corium IV, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 31x23x18 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium VII, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 25x15x10 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium I, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 14x11x8 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium II, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 13x11x8 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium III, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 14x11x8 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium V, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 26x15x9 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium VI, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 14x11x8 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium VIII, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 25x15x10 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium IX, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 17x12x12 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium X, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 14x10x12 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Corium XI, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 26x15x9 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown - Lavish Flow Install, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 1, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 13.1×20.5×2.1 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 2, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 11.7×13.3×1.3 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 3, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 11.6×16.8×1.4 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 4, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 16.6×11.6×1 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 5, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 10.7×15.5×1.3 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Lavish Flow 6, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 18.2x23x2.5 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown - Katsura – Portrait, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 40 x 22 x 22 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Katsura – Side, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 40 x 22 x 22 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Katsura – Close Up, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 40 x 22 x 22 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Cercis Group, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Cercis I, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 16x16x16 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Cercis II, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 16x16x16 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
Cercis III, 2023, Ceramic and Glaze, 21.5x16x16 cm. Photo by Guy Marshall-Brown
