Dan Wiggins Kintsugi Saggars
a B Arts residency at Stoke Indoor Market
The artistic love for Stoke Indoor Market continues with another residency in the current series being produced by community arts group B Arts.
Artist Dan Wiggins takes up stalls 4 and 5 where he’ll be mending a few broken saggars, combining the city’s pottery craft with the Japanese technique of ‘kintsugi’.
Kintsugi roughly translates as ‘joining with gold’ (kin is ‘gold’ and tsugi is ‘join’). It is a centuries-old Japanese repair technique used to restore broken ceramic and porcelain vessels. A saggar is a ceramic boxlike container used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln.
I was tempted to read too much into Dan’s artistic practise. Maybe by bringing such beauty to the restoring of broken saggars Dan is suggesting that we, as visitors to the market, are beautiful too – no matter how broken. Or maybe he’s exploring wider themes around mental health and hope. But no, Dan explained he was simply inspired by the joy of finding buried treasure – broken saggars – whilst digging his garden, and wanted to respond by honouring Stoke-on-Trent’s rich ceramics heritage. There’s beauty in that simplicity too, thanks Dan!
If you’re local to me in North Staffordshire UK, you can call in to Stoke’s Indoor Market to see and experience Dan’s work on 13th, 17th, and 24th of July, between 10am and 3pm.