TONI LOSEY

Cluster Crafts Residency Winner | Residency Journal | 2021

We had the pleasure of welcoming Toni Losey
as the winner of our first Crafts Artist-in-Residence Programme.
None of this would be possible without the help of our official partner London Craft Week,
who provided all the needed materials for Toni to thrive.

Conceived as a residency, Cluster has focused on assisting Toni Losey, with building a sustainable network that will help take her career forward.
Over a two month period, we introduced Toni to a number of contemporary craft galleries, stirring interest in future exhibitions,
and facilitated a number of conversations with key industry professionals.
This is Toni’s visual residency diary

WEEK 1

Play some music for more wholesome feel:

Things were starting to happen in the studio. — Things were starting to happen in Toni’s studio

In the first days of the residency we had the opportunity to arrange an online meeting for Toni and Brian Kennedy, curator of contemporary objects.
One of the advises he gave to Toni was to add a little context and scale to her work: to give little sneak peeks of behind the scenes progress.

The majority of Toni’s sculptural work is wheel-thrown Earthenware. The forms are hollow and are comprised of multiple closed pieces.

So much of Toni’s work is inspired by the small details she finds in the world. This amazing orange slime mold was found minutes from her front door while she was out walking the dog. The colour and the form, nevermind the amazing mossy texture around them, offer so many possibilities!

The glowing white found in this bleached seaweed could not be ignored!
The tactile textures felt even in this picture taken on one of my many beach walks in her neighbourhood.

When making own brand, whether commercial or more artistically orientated, it’s always important to define market positioning and what you want to communicate with your audience. That is why we decided to introduce Toni to Daniella Wells.

Daniella has over 20 years' experience in the art market with a focus on museum quality craft. Her work encompasses a range of events, predominantly art fairs. With the benefit of an extensive network, Daniella works independently and in collaboration with other individuals or companies on: Project Management, Events Management/Consultation, Marketing/PR and Talks Programmes.

With her knowledge and insights Daniella helped Toni start “building” the upcoming exhibition. How to know that everything that needs to be done is done when preparing for an exhibition and all the ideas that come with that. How to define the overall concept for feel of the exhibition.

Golden hour on the Atlantic Ocean, nothing better than that warm glow.

*Take a minute and look really close, all those little black spots are the swarms of seaweed flies...thank goodness they are only interested in the seaweed!

WEEK 2

Starting the second week it was time to gather Toni with graphic designer Irene Fortino.
The first session was for Irene to understand Toni’s level and what she would like to learn during the sessions, what she wanted to achieve.

Lichens are a constant favourite for Toni Losey

An earlier attempt at achieving that amazing mustard yellow lichen colour.

So many textural surfaces to draw from!

WEEK 3

Toni: "In this age of Zoom, how many times do we see ourselves like this?! I always like to set up a little space in the studio to host my zoom calls and this chat with Grant Gibson was no exception.”

Grant Gibson was another stunning industry professional who agreed to help and mentor Toni.

He is design, craft and architecture writer, and podcaster of Materials Matter (*for sure go check his podcast) whose work has been published in The Observer, New Statesman, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, FRAME, Dwell, and House & Garden. Grant has been editor of Blueprint and Crafts, deputy editor of FX, and acting executive editor of the RIBA Journal.

The main focus on Grant’s session with Toni was UK Industry introduction, advice on what press is looking for, sharing contacts from the UK crafts industry, very resourceful and great to person to know overall.

At this point of the residency Toni’s studio was filled with so many and amazing new work. Everything needed to have it’s own place and order.

Toni: "Table space is always at a premium in the studio. I like to keep my wet work area open so I'm not tripping over myself, this often results in other areas filling up and overflowing! That being said, there is something quite lovely about seeing all these pieces together in varying degrees of progress. I often learn something about my work when it is placed together without the consideration of exhibition, it is definitely worth paying attention to.”

A little peak into the progression of a piece. Here, all the pieces are put together, the basic form defined. The work is hollow, made up of assembled wheel thrown parts.

I find it helpful to add a base colour to my work, this helps me imagine future iterations where I'm not limited by the image of red clay. In this case I have added black underglaze at the leather hard stage as it is important to have colour in place before the next step.

Stepping out of my comfort zone, this step is about pushing boundaries, taking risks, testing where my work can go. This is not a finished piece, it has many more layers ahead but I am interested by the possibilities.

We arranged Toni a meeting with Roddy Clarke, writer for Forbes.

Their talk was focused on 3 main topics:
- Purpose: What is the mission/purpose behind one’s work?
- Communication: How to connect with an audience.
- Sustainability: A business principle and not a marketing strategy.

Solid colours starting to happen in the studio!

Also some serious growth in terms of sizes:

It was time to finish week number 3 with something special: talk with Varuna Kollanethu, director and curator of Ruup & Form Gallery.
Ruup & Form is a craft and design platform working with British and international makers, with the objective of promoting craft and design stories, including exhibitions, workshops and residencies globally. We also have an online ‘collect’ platform which showcases carefully curated works from Makers that we collaborate with.

Toni’s talk with Varuna centered around Toni’s upcoming solo show, preparing artists' statements, how to position oneself on the London market and build a career in UK.

WEEK 4

It was time to start making the finishing pieces for Toni’s pieces.
And as they say: The devil is in the details!

Artist usually have rough time framing their work and ideas in written words. That’s why it was perfect match to introduce Toni to Melody Vaughan.
The focus of their mutual sessions was Melody to support Toni communicating her ideas to the public and other arts audiences, whether for an Art Statement piece, promotional information, intro text for her web site or any other written form Toni would need in the future.

Dropped these babes in the kiln early this morning.
Only time for a few more firings before I ship the work to London!

All about the details, I love the texture of this fold! When I was speaking with Daniella Wells we discussed the value of highlighting the most important bits instead of showing everything all at once.

Soon after those last photos were taken it was time to announce the end of our first ever Crafts Artist-in-Residence Programme.
We are absolutely stunned by Toni’s amazing talent and energy. Cannot wait to share with you her finished project.
Stay tuned in the following days we will share information about Toni'’s upcoming solo exhibition!