Family portraits

Brown, C. 2001. Family portraits. Craftspace Touring at the Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham 17 Mar 2001 - 29 Apr 2001

CreatorsBrown, C.
Description

In this specially commissioned artwork for Ikons of Identity, a group exhibition around the significance of the mask in our culture, Brown examined the theme by creating a ceramic installation comprising a conventional family group. The project explored psychoanalytic theory about the persona as a means of protection by examining the nature of

relationships, communication and loss. Each family member wore a mask, their outward persona, while negative plaster casts of

their real faces were hung on the wall nearby like family photographs. The use of the casting as the central making process

reflected an ongoing interest in the mould as a metaphor for the human condition.

The presentation reflected Brown’s understanding of the concept of the persona. The life size moulds for these brick and

stoneware clay figures were developed from drawings from life and their plaster portraits were derived from casts of the original

heads. The presentation of the group of artefacts and its relationship to the space it occupied broke away from the ceramic

convention of a single plinth based object, exploring the use of installation and making reference to the relationship of ceramics

to other materials.

Craftspace Touring, an organisation committed to the broad dissemination of its exhibitions, invited 18 artists (including Caroline

Broadhead, Paul Derrez and Freddie Robbins) from a variety of disciplines to make work for this exhibition. It toured the UK for

several months (venues included York City Art Gallery, Worcester City Art Gallery and Leicester City Art Gallery) and was

backed up with an illustrated catalogue.

Brown was invited to explore these ideas further in a group exhibition About Face: Get Your Head Around Sculpture in Croydon

Clocktower Museum, showing a group of ceramic heads and plaster portraits. This show included international artists from a

range of contexts including Tracey Emin, Henry Moore and Antony Gormley and gave Brown a further opportunity to

demonstrate the power of ceramics to convey serious meaning.

Year2001
Publication dates
Published2001
ISBN0952683253
Output mediaCatalogue

Related outputs

Working and dreaming, paper given at Earth, Energy, the 47th Annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference 2013
Brown, C. 2013. Working and dreaming, paper given at Earth, Energy, the 47th Annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference 2013. NCECA Journal. 34.

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Brown, C. 2013. Marking the line: ceramics and architecture.

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Brown, C. 2013. Award. The Potteries Museum and Art gallery and the Spode factory, Stoke-on-Trent 28th September 2013 to 10th November 2013

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Brown, C. 2012. DreamWork.

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Brown, C. 2010. The Taiwan Ceramic Biennale 2010. Taipei, Taiwan

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Brown, C. 2010. In the playroom: a work in progress. The Go-Between Conference. University of Glamorgan and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

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Brown, C. 2010. Hybrid toys.

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Brown, C. 2010. Hermaphrodites. Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, USA

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Brown, C. 2010. Crucible. Gloucester Cathedral with Gallery Pangolin

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Brown, C. 2009. Reflection in action: practice-based research in the UK. 43rd Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Phoenix, Arizona 08 - 11 Apr 2009

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Brown, C. 2009. Fire and Brimstone. Gallery Pangolin, Stroud

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Brown, C. 2008. Sterling Stuff 2. Pangolin London, King's Place, London

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Brown, C. 2008. Myths and Legends. Contemporary Applied Arts, London

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Brown, C. 2007. After life.

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Brown, C. 2006. Foundation deposits.

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Brown, C. 2006. Embodying transformation. Interpreting Ceramics. 8.

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Brown, C. 2006. Collective traces. Ceramics Technical. 23.

Collective traces
Brown, C. 2006. Collective traces. University College London 22 Mar - 05 May 2006

The Fragmented Figure
Brown, C. 2005. The Fragmented Figure. UWIC, Cardiff 29 Jun - 08 Jul 2005

Body Language
Brown, C. 2005. Body Language. Gallery Pangolin, Stroud

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Brown, C. 2004. Christie Brown, Heidi Morstang. London Gallery West, University of Westminster, Harrow

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Brown, C. 2003. Sterling stuff. Museum Sigismond Olafsson, Reykjavic, Iceland and Friends Room, Royal Academy, London

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Brown, C. 2003. Between the dog and the wolf. Kingsgate Gallery, London 2003

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Brown, C. 2002. Child of glass. Gallery Pangolin, Stroud, Gloucester 02 Nov - 20 Dec 2002

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Brown, C. 2001. Red Olympia, Portrait Bust, The Glyptotek. V&A Museum, London 20 Sep - 04 Nov 2001

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Brown, C. 2001. Red Galateea, Galatea's Helper. Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool 01 - 27 Oct 2001

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Brown, C. 2001. Portrait of the Golem, Portrait of Prometheus, The Glypotek. WDO Gallery, Charlotte USA 11 May - 23 Jun 2001

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Brown, C. 2001. Portrait of Pygmalion, Portrait of Galatea, the Glyptotek. Philadelphia Clay Studio, USA 01 - 24 Jun 2001

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Brown, C. 2001. Christie Brown - recent sculpture. New York 07 Sep 2001 - 13 Oct 2001

Child of Glass Head
Brown, C. 2001. Child of Glass Head. Quenington Sculpture Trust, Gloucestershire 15 Jun - 7 Jul 2001

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