National Treasure

This artwork featured in The Precious Clay (2019).

National Treasure is an expression of respect for industrial labour and skill. Turning a video camera on china painter Tony Challiner, a craftsman with over five decades of experience, Brownsword rescues traditional skill from our amnesiac collective mind by proving the timeless value of the hand. The title also refers to the east, to Japan and Korea, where craftspeople are considered national treasures because of their traditional skills. Hiring Challiner himself, Brownsword filmed the craftsman at work in the derelict Josiah Spode factory. The images of ruined industrial sites painted on the reverse side of the plates are poignant but not nostalgic, they are literally snapshots of an economic transition following the disappearance of a traditional industry.

Image: Neil Brownsword, National Treasure, ceramic, looped film, performance with Anthony Challiner, 2015-2016. Image courtesy the artist. 

 

About the artist

Neil Brownsword

Neil Brownsword exhibited in The Precious Clay, Museum of Royal Worcester, 2019.