Not knowing as well-making: Creativity, addiction recovery and clay

Abstract

This photo essay shows work made during ‘ReCast’, a short creative residency led by British Ceramics Biennial in partnership with Stoke Recovery Service. Images of the making process and final pieces are combined with first-hand participant-accounts articulated through poetry. Focusing on an experimental approach to making and firing, the processes used involve a high degree of risk. The element of risk is key to allowing clients to challenge behaviours such as perfectionism and exploring the presence and absence of control within a supported environment. Participants were encouraged to reflect throughout on the parallels between the recovery process and the ceramic process, both in a wider context and in relation to their own personal experience. The quality of the work produced reflects the clients’ openness to experimentation and many express a sense of achievement, having clearly left their comfort zone far behind.