# Project Description That's a Funny Looking Horse Emily Hall Summary Final work My clay journey began in high school but i've always had an instinctive need to create throughout my life. A curiosity for my local history ebbs into much of my work having grown up in South Staffordshire in a village built over retired coal mines. I like the permanence of ceramics, even though there is the burden of knowing what i make will outlive me, i take advantage of this quality to preserve things that are being lost or changed: where there was once a field of beautiful but unstable land in my village there is now a housing estate newly built on top of it. Clay helps me process these changes. I'm obsessed with achieving an idiosyncratic approach to my contextual themes, looking for perspectives I didn't notice before; usually the perspective of an insect on a human theme - like an insect alter ego. This tendency to highlight the overlooked is complimented by my maximalist stylisation that seeks your attention. I love designing patterns and involving textures and processes in my pieces that continue the traditions of Staffordshire ceramicists such as extruding through mesh and pressing textured slabs into moulds. In my quest to escape the expectations of static ceramic forms I enjoy being inquisitive about clays’ bounds and limits through designing kinetic functions like locking mechanisms, hinges and rotational elements. There are levels of reaction that I crave from my audience: I want you to be in awe of the detail, I want you to be taken aback by its unusualness and i want you to understand but its ok if you do not. My clay journey began in high school but i've always had an instinctive need to create throughout... College Central Saint Martins Course BA (Hons) Ceramic Design Graduation year 2025 That's a Funny Looking Horse is a ceramic kinetic diorama of a fairground for the insects that lived in a field near my home in a Staffordshire mining village. Using the insects as an alter ego, these ceramics are a piece of their story: they lived with horses in a field of unstable land over the coal mines until one day the horses disappeared and in rolled a digger. “That’s a funny looking horse” one insect said to the other. They realised their home was being taken over and so the insects decided that they would celebrate the good times they had there with a fairground like how the humans in the village celebrate. Now there are only houses, there is no field. I use the permanent quality of fired clay to tell this story and to preserve my local history because the museums there are being shut down due to funding cuts. The patterns I've used are inspired by those found on Staffordshire ceramics and some of my making techniques like extruding through a sieve and shaping textured clay in moulds come from my local ceramicists whose practices and traditions I am trying to continue and preserve. Final work That's a Funny Looking Horse Functional carousel and ferris wheel for insects. “That’s a Funny Looking Horse” kinetic ceramic carousel and ferris wheel Share this project That's a Funny Looking Horse is a ceramic kinetic diorama of a fairground for the insects that lived in a field near my home in a Staffordshire mining village. Using the insects as an alter ego, these ceramics are a piece of their story: they lived with horses in a fi... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard Browse related work Community Data Being Human Histories Nature & Environment Places & Spaces Play Politics Story & Myth Home Sculpture Movement Pattern Heritage Ceramics