Date that this item was entered on to the web-site: 14th December 2006.   Clare Twomey and Keith Harrison at the V&A's 'Clay Rocks' event On 29th September we filmed two significant ceramic events as part of the V&A's 'Clay Rocks' evening. Keith Harrison, Senior Lecturer (Ceramics) at Bath Spa University College was filmed working on two new installation pieces and Clare Twomey was filmed talking about her installation in the museum's Casts Court. Keith had made two pieces of work specifically for the event. The first was a series of electric cooker elements embedded in to blocks of clay and connected to the electricity supply. Situated in the stunning setting of the Raphael Cartoons Room the blocks slowly hissed and steamed as the current started to heat each block in turn. His other piece was a scale model of the M25 orbital motorway made from ceramics with a kiln element running down the centre of the 'road' and kept in palce by damp clay. Once connected to an electrical supply the element would heat the clay and turn it blue. Both pieces of work attracted large and appreciative audiences. The filming was partly funded by Bath Spa University. Clare Twomey's piece of work was called 'Trophy'. An installation of 4000 ceramic birds made from Wedgwood's Jasper blue clay and stamped with the marks of the V&A, Wedgwood and Clare's own personal mark, it was very much a 'one night only' event. There were several bird shapes in two different colours of clay, each measuring around 5-6cm in length. Carefully placed around the museum's Casts Court the birds rested on cases, beside plinths, on sculptures and along the floor. When the gallery opened at 6pm the visitors were invited to take a bird home with them, thus gradually 'destroying' the collection. As visitors entered the gallery some did 'pocket' a bird whilst others chose not to and some rearranged them. By the end of the evening the 'flock' had largely disappeared. It was a joyous occasion with lots of discussion of which bird to take, a great deal of interaction with the work and lots of smiling faces. Trophy was partly funded by a grant from the Arts Council of England and the clay was supplied by Wedgwood. Links: Clare Twomey website http://www.claretwomey.com Keith Harrison http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/about/profiles/profile.asp?user=academic%5Chark1 V&A website http://www.vam.ac.uk