Dorron Running Ceramics Workshop

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Turing Scheme - Making ceramics abroad with Francesca Studio

Covering everything from how important PR is to an artist to why more art students aren’t clamouring to study abroad, Dorron spills all about his time in Valencia.
<p dir="ltr">We sat down to catch up with Dorron Britz, a <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-fine-art">BA (Hons) Fine Art</a> student who attended <a href="https://francescaceramica.com/">Francesca Ceramic Studio</a> in Valencia, Spain, as part of the Turing Scheme earlier this year.</p> <p dir="ltr">The <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/international/turing-scheme">Turing Scheme</a> at Arts University Plymouth provides life-changing opportunities for students to study internationally or work abroad. Eligible students receive funding to assist with expenses such as travel, accommodation and living costs, offering them the chance to develop personally, academically and professionally. </p> <p dir="ltr">Students who have taken part have been found to <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/international/turing-scheme">achieve higher results for their degrees</a> than those who have not participated, gained employment faster after leaving university and have been proven to be 44% more likely to hold managerial positions than their peers 10 years after completing their graduation. </p> <p dir="ltr">Dorron is a multi-disciplinary contemporary artist from Devon who joined Arts University Plymouth in 2021 as a mature student on the arts university’s Extended Degree programme, beginning his undergraduate studies with an additional exploratory year before specialising in <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fine-art">BA (Hons) Fine Art.</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Covering everything from how important PR is to an artist to why more art students aren’t clamouring to study abroad, Dorron spills all about his time in Valencia.<br /></p>
<p><strong>How did you hear about the Turing scheme?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">I initially heard about it during the first year of my Extended BA (Hons) degree. I really wanted to just get my feet on the ground, figure out what was going on. And I'd already determined that by the time I got to the end of second year, I wanted to at least go somewhere and do some kind of internship or work experience. </p> <p dir="ltr">I made contact with the office, and then, I was working through the twin organisation in Spain. They organised the accommodation, the placements and so on and so forth for a fee. I hadn't realised at the time that you can organise your own accommodation, your own placements and so on, but nevertheless, it was the first time for me, so it was fine.<br /></p>
<p><strong>Where was your placement and what did you do?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">During the internship I was helping Francesca, who owns a studio, to run ceramic workshops. People from the public would subscribe and they would come in for a course of six lessons and those would run for two to three hours a day on scheduled days. There were always a number of workshops being run through simultaneously on different days. </p> <p dir="ltr">My job was to basically go in and help people understand how to craft the clay and the ceramics and understand a little bit about glazes, which I didn't know a lot about, but once I got into it, I discovered that I had a lot of inherent skills, which served me well.</p> <p dir="ltr">I was asked to come back, so I must've been doing something right. It was really enjoyable. I met an awful lot of people out there that I've stayed in contact with, so I made some very good connections.</p> <p dir="ltr">It was a regular day-to-day job. I worked six days a week. I was only required to work five, but I enjoyed it. I would come in the morning and do a quick sweep up and a clean, maybe unpack some of the kilns or, or pack the kilns, so I learned a little bit about that. I learned a bit about glazing techniques and mixing. I also learned about heating profiles for the ceramics as well, because once you heat them up, they've got to stay at a temperature, then they drop down. It refines the actual making process in the sense that when you're doing it, you learn more from actually doing than you do from reading.<br /></p>
<p><strong>Do you find that your learnings from your course has contributed to you being able to work with other artists abroad?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">I think the most important thing I've learned is that all the skills I have in my previous life are actually applicable. They come through to what I do here at the university.</p> <p dir="ltr">I began to see over the years that a lot of my skills are transferable. But it was only in being in that different environment that I realised, they are very transferable. Everything we do is transferable into our art. Even the students that come here straight from school, everything they've done in their life will somehow contribute.</p> <p dir="ltr">They may have worked with dad building a shed, or going for a long walk. Everything you do, you learn little things along the road and they have some kind of application in your art. It's too wide and diverse to be able to nail down specific things.</p> <p dir="ltr">It's just, everyone has a different experience. And those experiences come through in your art. <br /></p>
<p><strong>What did you do outside of the studio in Valencia?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Outside of the studio, I had access to a range of museums. I couldn't believe how many good art museums there were in Valencia. I was just astounded. And the work is international. I can't even begin to roll off the names, you know, Anselm Kiefer, all the way through to Hockney.</p> <p dir="ltr">It’s world class stuff. I'd spend about eight hours a day in each of the galleries, just going around and you still never saw everything. It gave me an appreciation of how Spanish art differs from British art. They had different drivers and influences, the royal family had a big influence in terms of what they painted and that translated into the whole art culture, and gave rise to this national flavor to their work as well. </p> <p dir="ltr">Then of course, you come across people like Julio Gonzalez, who was a sculptor, a contemporary of Picasso's. And you realise this guy was just amazing in terms of his output, phenomenal, but not that famous because he didn't have the same PR. So you learn something new - If you want to be successful as an artist, you've got to pay attention to the PR.<br /></p>
Dorron Preparing Clay 1x1
<p><strong>Would you recommend Turing to a student that may be nervous or an emerging artist?</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">I would say from the emerging artist's point of view, if you take your art seriously, and you really want to go beyond these shores, you want to be more global than just completely local. You're going to be exposed to different influences, you're going to see a different way of doing things, and all of these are experiences which then contribute to your art.</p> <p dir="ltr">Something like Turing will influence your art. The architecture I've seen has already put shapes in my head that I will find a way of translating into a sculpture. The work I was doing in Valencia has completely influenced my 601 module. Out of that, I recently had three pieces on exhibition in the Plymouth Art Weekender. All of it grew out of something that got triggered while I was in Valencia. So everything leads to a piece. If you're taking your art seriously, regardless of whether you're confident or not, you need to go. Because, it will build your self confidence.</p> <p dir="ltr">I can't understand why every student here isn't banging on the door trying to get through to go out on the Turing experience because the benefits they get to it are just so wonderful.</p>
Dorron Running Ceramics Workshop 2 1x1