Score is a performance, video, and diagrammatic project that explores scoring in ceramic practice as method of joining clay bodies. To score clay, a pointed tool is used to plunge into the clay and slide the clay apart from itself to create passages. As the scoring tool passes through clay, molecularly, it slides clay platelets across films of water, creating a marred clay topography that may help one scored clay body with another. Beginning with this process, Score attends to the capacities of points of scoring tools. I collect scoring tools taught within American studio ceramics, including needle tools, serrated ribs, and wire brushes, alongside pointed objects not conventionally used as scoring tools. These tools are used to score clay and are also represented through writing, video, and diagrams. Written words are arranged into forms resembling scoring tools and scored passages. Videos demonstrate different ways of scoring and the encounters each tool facilitates with clay. Still images from these videos are transformed into diagrams that suspend and reorient those encounters through representation. Representations of scoring open imaginative possibilities beyond what is represented.

Score. Ongoing performance. 2023. University of California Davis, Davis, California. Sounds created with the assistance of Ryan Danley.

(cleaning brush bristles)

(needle nose pliers)

(dried cattail stem)

(stitching spacer)

(tape dispenser)

(electrical fuse)

(point bar stilt)

(broken mirror)

(edge creaser)

(earring post)

(plumb bob)

(tweezers)

(aloe vera)

(threader)

(bayonet)

(star stilt)

(pop tab)

(spindle)

(skewer)

(square)

(needle)

(ripper)

(stylus)

(icicle)

(spine)

(blade)

(spork)

(beak)

(rake)

(nail)

(tack)

(knife sharpening steel)

(drafting compass)

(clothespin spring)

(clipped toenail)

(credit card cut)

(basket pieces)

(feather shaft)

(coffee stirrer)

(key opener)

(corkscrew)

(cultivator)

(tree bark)

(capacitor)

(chopstick)

(barrette)

(incense)

(twist tie)

(resistor)

(curette)

(grovel)

(pruner)

(chisel)

(zip tie)

(pencil)

(brush)

(knife)

(tooth)

(thorn)

(comb)

(stick)

(clip)

(liquid soap nozzle)

(broken ceramics)

(eyeglass temple)

(string with aglet)

(stitcher wheel)

(alien wrench)

(air pump tip)

(broken glass)

(barbed wire)

(screwdriver)

(belt prong)

(transistor)

(glue tool)

(scissors)

(splinter)

(groover)

(beveler)

(hanger)

(scalpel)

(drill bit)

(scaler)

(sharps)

(staple)

(spike)

(briar)

(straw)

(wire)

(rasp)

(hook)

(pick)

(awl)