The grand Budapest Market Hall

Interior of the market, early in the morning with lights of the season

Green Bridge with the Gellert in the distance

Deb drawfed by a candelabra at the Hungarian National Museum

Ice moving on the Danube as the day warms

Debra and I spent a couple of days in Budapest where we were welcomed by our favourite sights, one of them being the market.  We were there early Monday morning where people were just setting up – lots of lovely fresh produce, huge amounts of pork, beef and chicken on the ground floor, and items for locals and tourists on the second floor.

Walking over the Green Bridge takes 10 minutes at most, but we need to stop, look, take photos, watch people, etc.  It doesn’t seem to matter how often we do this walk, we always find something to admire.

First time visit at the Muzeum Korut  – a museum about the history of Budapest and Hungary.  We spent about two hours here – there was some English translation as our Hungarian is no better than it was when we were here last time – such a challenging language!)  Lots to learn and the more I do, the less I know about most things.

Ice on the Danube held a great deal of fascination as we viewed it swirling and moving from the Green Bridge.  Needless to say, it was cold and the hot baths at the Gellert were very welcome after we were out and about!

Debra had a special birthday while stopping in Budapest and T and all four children and their mates Skyped her at an early hour to wish her the best.  She was very happy they took the time to gather to acknowledge the day.

The Courtyard at ICS – in Spring, this tree shades with cherry blossoms – hard to imagine in the current -11 degrees.

Debra in front of the doors of ICS – note the hoar frost on the overhanging boughs.

Inner courtyard view from my room – lots of snow and ice!

the walk into the town centre.

As this is my third residency here, it almost feels like a second home.  We are welcomed by the staff who are pleased to see us as we are them, and made to feel a part of the ceramics community.   Our work during the last 10 days has been rewarding and productive, working long days, breaking for lunch, back to work, breaking for a beer and perhaps some palinka about 6 and then go out for a late dinner at one of the local restaurants.

My friend Debra Sloan and I decided to recover from jet-lag in Vienna before settling in to our week long plaster casting workshop on the  Hungary/Austrian border,   I had visited Vienna last in 1970  and it is hard for me to say, let alone imagine 46 years ago!  We stayed in the historic part of the city, where it seemed almost without traffic while cars buzzed around us on the ring road.   We  walked easily everywhere even though snow, wind and sleet were the rule of the day and salt and gravel covered most streets.  We found the Viennese people somewhat reserved yet very relaxed as they went about their business.  For three days we meandered about and went through the Kunsthistorich Museum mesmerized by the Breugels, Rembrandts and Vermeer and somewhat bemused by the curation of an exhibit by Edmund de Waal.  We were lucky enough to get a seat the wildly popular state opera house and see La Sonnambula where we were nothing short of amazed watching the Viennese give a seemingly endless standing ovation.  The state opera has wait lists of years for season opera tickets  both through the week and on the weekends and they have sell out seasons year round!  And of course, the practice of the Lipizaner’s gave us a suitable morning just sitting and looking at these beauties trot about – little energy from us but to take it in before we caught our train for Hungary.

A popular way to get around

My initial thoughts were to spend the residency researching tiles and ceilings in Rome – the sense of the city about me has instead taken me to interpreting surfaces that present themselves daily – the cobblestones on my walk through Trastevere to c.r.e.t.a.; ruins of columns, arches and sculptures;   trees and buildings – there is enough for many lifetimes of work. Beginning is daunting, but I have.

I share a space near the Capitoline Hill with my friend Debra and another sculptor Nuala Creed at c.r.e.t.a. We have formed a good daily routine, mostly quietly working accompanied by Italian radio that reminds me of what our CBC FM station was many years before our cuts.

I’ve taken photographs, and am using them to form images on my tiles that are not large, approximately a foot square. With one bisque behind me, I’ve started painting the surfaces, so hopefully will have some results by the end of this week.

My working routine was rudely interrupted by a cold that many Romans seem to share, but I recovered just in time to spend a few days with friends from London, looking at sites I have been meaning to see. It was wonderful, but am feeling pressured to get some better work completed….

on the Sisto Bridge about to enter the Campo di Fiori

the Pantheon

the real thing including 25% shrinkage!

kiln loading with tiles, limoges and Nuala’s sculptures

my desk littered with some tiles and limoges

Recently I was commissioned to make a tile mural with inlay – not something new for me.  Indeed, the buyers wanted me to return to a previous time where my work was perhaps more spontaneous, using rougher edges but with more structure on the interior of the form, with various sizes of coloured slip inlay contained by line I would later colour with liquid slip.  This way of working reminds me of playing musical notes, and I attempt to include this feeling of flow and punctuation.  I found this very exciting and also rejuvenating for me.