Today, we would like to highlight the efforts of Eva Jack (artist), Becky Sparks (web designer) and Kevin Andrew Morris (ceramicist), with the assistance of Claire Blakey (curator at the National Museum of Scotland) to give a second life to printed pottery sherds found in our fields, beaches or rivers.
Fragmentfound.com is a digital museum of lost, broken, unwanted and discarded artefacts, rediscovered centuries later in fields, on beaches, in rivers, etc. The archive connects people, places, craft, local heritage and the natural environment. The aim is to build a community which centres around collating, identifying and categorising mysterious pieces of history, which would otherwise remain undocumented. Selected fragments will become part of a series of ceramic artworks called ‘Imaginary Artefacts.
Eva Jack, founder to Fragmentfound.com
Fragment Found, a new online archive of printed pottery sherds that invites people to submit their finds and share knowledge, as well as the joy of collecting!
Despite its widespread use and appreciation, the skills involved in making printed pottery are today on the Red List of Endangered Crafts. Only one Staffordshire pottery continues to produce this ware using traditional techniques. These skills are under threat of disappearing entirely and with them, transfer-printed pottery itself.
If you have an interest in ceramics or would like to submit a picture of a printed pottery shred, please visit www.fragmentfound.com.
Ceramics Today 