So lockdown continues, and I have not got a workshop or studio at home, and recent attempts at chess pieces have resulted in accidents and breakages and clay shards all over the kitchen floor. So I am going to focus on reading around my subject and broadening my knowledge.
I am interested in a sense of place, and feel strongly connected to my home city of Manchester. I am also interested in history, and family history. I realise that the city has changed over time, and that although I can walk down the same street as earlier generations, it does not look the same, as the buildings are being replaced and rebuilt. However there are some buildings that remain, and there are archival images of the earlier urban landscape, that I can use to imagine how it looked in the past.
As I have time, I will explore Manchester architecture a bit further to discover whether it might provide inspiration, or a possible area for further focus. Focusing on the architecture of Manchester, I am pursuing a number of lines of enquiry. I am currently trying to obtain a greater understanding of architecture in general, as well as three more specific aspects of architecture in Manchester: commercial warehouses, ceramic architecture and tiles, and the legacy of the industrial revolution.
I have completed a short course in Architecture on Coursera. It was very interesting, and covered creativity and design too. A building basically represents the integration of four considerations: nature, society, technique, and economy. I can look at the architecture of Manchester with these four considerations in mind. There is also an interesting video on divergent and convergent thinking. Architects use divergent thinking to observe, research, and plan projects. Once this work is done they use convergent thinking to narrow down the possibilities. This puts me in mind of my own project, and how I can proceed from my initial idea. The divergent phase will be when I generate ideas of how I can represent the history of, and changes within, the city through its changing architecture. When I am make maquettes and decide which work best as a form, and which have meaning to me. Alongside I am going to develop glazes and application techniques so that I have a clear idea on surface decoration. The convergent phase will be the last two months when I am going to choose the most meaningful idea and best form, and focus on achieving a more professional finish and bringing everything together.
Commercial heritage - Manchester was once called 'warehouse city', with over 1800 warehouses in the city centre, for the display and storage of textile products. These buildings give Manchester its unique look. I have obtained a copy of English Heritage's book, Manchester The Warehouse Legacy and am finding out more about these unique buildings. I passed many of these buildings on a daily basis, and now know a little more about when, why and by whom they were originally built. Over time most of these buildings have been adapted and repurposed for different uses.
Industrial heritage - In 1999 the British government proposed a tentative list of sites for consideration as World Heritage Sites. This list contained industrial Manchester and Salford, linked by the Bridgewater Canal and Rochdale canal, as well as the railway stations and buildings. The Bridgewater canal was the first canal of the industrial era, whereas the Liverpool-Manchester railway was the first inter-city railway system. The industrial area stretched from Worsley to Ancoats via Castlefield. By 1850 five canals and six railway lines passed through the city, as well as the three original rivers. In Canals Rivers and the Industrial City, Maw, Wyke and Kidd (2012) argue that it was this inter-connected system that led to Manchester being at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Most of the 89 cotton mills were located next to waterways, including those in Ancoats which at the time provided 40% of the city's mills. These structures and buildings were more functional and industrial, than the commercial warehouses on Portland, Princess and Whitworth Streets. I am interested in the impact these areas had on the history of the city as a whole, rather than as a particular location.
I also found a fantastic digital resource at Historic England, with some great images of Manchester's canals.
I found this interesting, in terms of its importance to the city and the wider subject of industrialisation. However I don't really have a connection to some of these remaining heritage areas. Certainly not the huge mills in Ancoats, and only a limited, and more recent, knowledge of Castlefield and its canals. I did come across, and join, the Urban History Society. It is run by university historians, and their zoom lecture programme is interesting, including aspects of social history and population movements .
Ceramic Building decoration - I have found a society called The Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society (TACS).
Image - Midland Hotel Manchester
They have a fabulous website, with publications and book recommendations, and links to a range of researchers and organisations. Best of all is the TACS database of National Architectural Ceramics Locations.
It is possible to use the advanced search to identify the locations of architectural ceramics in Manchester. A number of manufacturers including Minton, Burmantofts, Pilkington, Doulton and Shaws of Darwen have decorated buildings in the city centre. I am also reading a book by Hans van Lemmen that traces the history of architectural ceramics. In the 1860's and 1870's public buildings like the V&A, The Natural History Museum and The Albert Hall used ceramic panels and sculpture both internally and externally. There are many examples of architectural tiles in Greater Manchester, although these tend to relate to the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. Like the industrial heritage reading above, it is interesting, but I don't think it will become a focus for me going forward.
This research is definitely still in the divergent phase, obtaining a background understanding, but I don't feel emotionally connected to any single line of enquiry above as yet. I think it would help to identify a specific area of the city, an area that has existed and been developed for more than 100 years, that would have been familiar to earlier generations of my family, and still exists today, even if some of the buildings have been replaced.
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