The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 2 July 2014

Pocket Ph D
Objects of Embodied Tension
Beli nda Wi nkler shares her PhD research
Warm, silky-smooth plaster ... Soft, dove-grey, dewy forms emerging from their moulds ... A maker by
nature, j am happiest when covered in plaster and surrounded by an array of fresh warm casts, each
imbued with the tension and pressure of its creation and loaded with potential. There is an intrinsic
delight in the act of making, of using hands and mind to create something that has not existed before,
of bringing life to form. At once challenging and immensely satisfying, the pleasure j receive from the
act of making was the constant motivation for my practice-based research.
Through my PhD research I explored the potential that lies within material-based form-finding and
the physical act of making, exploring the inherent connections of these processes to an embodied
perception of the object. The path of my research was not one of theoretical extrapolation, but rather
one of reflective, practice-based research undertaken through the making of, and reflecting upon,
sculptural forms and designed objects, and contextualised within a broader community of practice
that includes Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Marie Torbensdatter Hermann, Leicester Cooper, Eva Zeisel and
Les Blakebrough, to name but a few. The establishment of, and engagement with, the field of creative
practitioners who form my community of practice has been integral to my research, as has the act of
reflective practice, bringing about a fundamental shift in understanding that my processes of thinking
and making are not hierarchically separated - that research and practice are not separate activities but
are intimately intertwined.
Reflective practice-based research revealed that, for me, the physical, hands-on, embodied process
of form-finding using ductile, responsive, elastic materials subjected to tension and compression,
provides the experimental pathways that give life to form and the possibility of an object - an object
of embodied tension. Having been generated through the use of tension, the forms j create become
charged with that tension. These charged objects, when placed in relation to one another, create a
different kind of tension, one that exists within the space between. Here, where curve almost meets
curve, nearly but not quite tOUChing, a spatial tension is created. We perceive this tension, as we are
ourselves objects of embodied tension. Pressure and gravity, tension and compression, torsion and
stretch, dimple and swell, we have direct, physical experience with these sensations and, as such, when
we read them in an object they find resonance in our own bodies, in our muscles, our movements, our
breathing, our memories. We have, within us, memories of moments of tension, of anticipation and
longing, implicit sensual memories, haptic memories, brought to the fore in a moment of recognition.
The outcomes of the research provide insights into the interconnected nature of physical and
perceptual tensions and their role in the activation and apprehension of the object, and, importantly,
provide insight into the nature of creative practice in the ceramic arts.
www.belindawinkler.com.au
Belinda's thesis link: http://researchbank.rmit.edu.aulview/rmit:160666
Belinda's examination on Vim eo: http://vimeo.com/B6083312
88 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 2014