Katherine Glenday
porcelain

April 2007 saw me settling into a new and light-filled working studio and exhibition space. The renovations were finally completed and a new passage of learning to inhabit and share this environment began. The building was originally a blacksmith's forge at the turn of the century - and during the renovations we found many wonderful pieces of old rusted steel, hundreds of discarded horse shoes and other intriguing pieces of old equipment in the soil. I love the fact that perhaps in another hundred year's time remnants of porcelain and glass will be found here too.

The 'Forge' now consists of a porcelain workshop at the back and a large open space of around 90m at the front. It has a sprung maple floor and large frosted windows which allow a gentle light and give a sense of being somehow 'removed' and 'other'. This was important to me as it is actually situated on a cobbled road, in the heart of Kalk Bay in line with the fishing harbour and on the same road as the Olympia Deli which describes itself as "a legend in its own lunch time." It is a gastronomic destination in its own league! (The deli used to bake in the Forge some years ago.)

Opposite the forge is the Kalk Bay sculpture studio where the Bladen brothers, Chris and Nic work with bronze casting and silver casting respectively. There is a wonderful creative flow which happens between our studios, and all of our skills have been enhanced by the interaction.

I wanted this beautiful building to be used for other art forms and creative pursuits, as well as my own. I believe in the transformative power of creativity and beauty and their absolute necessity in our lives. I love to see and feel and hear dance and music and writing happening, and I love to be around other artistic disciplines and to enjoy the sense of community that this contact with people engenders. We forge one another through contact both inwardly and in our working lives.

The Olympia Deli also seems to fulfill this important role in hundreds of people's lives and Kalk Bay in general has become a destination for people who are looking for a feeling of belonging and integration within a community. (These are very simple, down to earth values which used to be taken for granted and were a matter of course - but which now have to be rediscovered in our over stimulated and yet isolated lives.)

The Forge is where I teach porcelain classes, in addition to all the other practises, concerts and workshops which other people facilitate. My own working studio is at the back of the building and I can work here on my own exhibition work and enjoy the fact that there are other people in a dance class or a poetry reading in the large space, deriving the same joy and meaning which creativity, music and human interactions bring. The large space is also perfect for exhibiting in, and when the dust has settled … I will be doing just that with my work.

I feel that many people are pursuing similar awarenesses and that these things are part of a common gestalt. I am endeavoring to constellate an ethic at the Forge where interactions between different disciplines serve to enhance and tune one another more finely. I want to provide a space where people can brush with one another and perhaps see life from a slightly 'stiller' place. It is part of a vision I have held for some time. My own work with porcelain (which is my personal passion) requires many, many hours of devotion and affords much time for me to ponder and dream.

I believe that resources expand with sharing, that teaching is always a two way thing, and that we are all ultimately only human, needing warmth, and hope and beauty to sustain us.

I have been given an incredible opportunity with this wonderful old building, and I am grateful for it every single day.

Email: info@katherineglenday.com