Making/drawing with words: Form as text, text as form (un-writing and re-writing form)

Abstract

Abstract Digital making in ceramics can be approximated to a form of drawing.This project considered the possibility of forming clay using the Rhino programme as a drawing tool by way of adopting drawing into a craft-based process. This paper reflects on the nature of digital drawing as a word-led rather than bodily-led process in generating three-dimensional form – a method of hand-making or hand-writing in ceramic craft. It therefore explores form-finding by means of a drawing process of composing and crafting with words. The article examines the physicality and meaning of words derived from actions related to hand-making and the sensorial nature of a written, embodied language. It considers the translation of three-dimensional form from performative word-acts of hand-making (rolling, folding, bending, twisting, splitting, wrapping, binding, joining, bonding, stretching, etc.) into a digital vocabulary of drawing commands (rotate, curve, arrange, expand, cut, multiply, etc.). The exercise signals the difference between sensorial renderings and digital readings in craft and drawing practice, contemplating the role of the language in-between. In doing so, it questions the significance of digital drawing in the context of ceramic craft as an approach to generating three-dimensional physical form.