Cathy O'Brien
About me
I am a second year Archaeology DPhil candidate at the University Oxford conducting research into how people in Britain have been potting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am also a beginner potter, and began teaching myself from YouTube videos during the first lockdown last year. I'm very much still learning and document some of my progress on my Instagram: @anthro_pottery, and you can also see some of my work on the Pottery tab of this website.
I am really keen to chat with anyone who has been working with clay; professionally, as a hobby, students or trainees, really anyone at any level, about their experience.
Research interests
My research seeks to investigate the development of pottery skills and its affective impact in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with participants in Britain.
Some of the things I am interested in include:
Potters' experiences of working from home with limited access to studios or materials and the pressures of lockdown.
Whether learning through media, such as Youtube videos, Instagram, online forums, or pottery books alters skill development, and the role of these resources in developing skills outside of 'traditional' educational structures?
The experience of socially-distanced studio learning, whether from the perspective of one-off class takers, ceramics students, or teachers.
Whether there is an emotional or affective impact generated through learning pottery skills or working with clay, and why this is?
What kind of methods might be used to capture, analyse and accurately represent the experience of potters?
Call for Participants
