Fragment Found – The Project Book Launch

I was thrilled to be able to attend the launch of the Fragment Found book and installation at the Make It Glasgow Bothy, beside the clay pits. This volume brings together a collection of contributions on the theme of found pottery fragments, including pieces by artists, archaeologists and mudlarks. In the volume there are reflections on what it means to find something, hold something, that might not have been felt in decades, or centuries. Why do people collect pottery, what do they do with it, and who does it connect us to?

At the launch there was an exhibition of some of the Fragment Found Project’s other outputs including a series of (re)produced and (re)collected ceramic art pieces, soundscapes and audio-readings inspired by and from the publication, and the Fragment Found database, which includes sherds from across the globe, from Glencoe to Montevideo in Uruguay.

A performance delivered by Eva Jack and colleague Ella Mackay explored ‘a possible history’ using live film, projected in a shipping container. Through these performances the biography of pottery; from clay at the nearby clay pits, through a Glasgow pottery works, to use, destruction and deposition was explored, in a biographical style, juxtaposing archival images manipulated and animated by hand, with acts evocating of the Chaîne opératoire of pottery production, from raw clay, rough and buried, hacked out by shovel and pick, worked and refined, tempered and shaped, decorated and fired, sold and used, broken, and lost. Watching the performance unfold was gripping, even as we could see the effects taking shape in front of us which played with a variety of textures and techniques, the projected scenes were magnetic. I watched in mild horror as a pick head broke through clay, felt warmed by the mirrored glow of a kiln firing plates, and, surprising myself, shed a tear as a plate broke in a basin of soapy water, becoming the fragments from which this project, and event, took its name. All I can say is if you get the chance I would recommend catching this performance if it comes around again!

Printed pottery from GLM excavated in 2022 (c) Michael Given

In the Fragment Found volume you can find an article about my work in Glencoe exploring the early shieling excavations in Gleann Leac na Muidhe, conducted as part of my PhD with a team of my conscripted friends as co-diggers. The piece explores a small fragment of a blue and white decorated ceramic bowl we uncovered from the midden of a whisky bothy in this glen, and the thrill of the find after digging a number of finds-sterile shieling huts.

There is also an article by Archaeology Scotland Chief Executive Gavin MacGregor exploring how we as archaeologists encounter and interact with fragments of pottery, and the special place this material holds in our practice.

Pottery is important to Glasgow’s industrial story, in its heyday the city was a major producer of everything from clay tobacco pipes to chimneys, from tureens to tea pots. Archaeological investigations across the world have unpicked the global reach of pottery produced on the Clyde. Pottery from Port Glasgow to Rutherglen can be found in America and Australia, (https://www.fraziermuseum.org/collections-blog/blog-post-title-one-hr7sn).

Excavations at the sites of Glasgow pottery works have uncovered the innovations that occurred in pottery production in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries as well as the experiences of those who made it.