Blog

In the Art Room (on the ground floor), you will find a new and rather unique sculpture ‘Porcelain Sound Box’. For this piece, the pair were joined by Lucy’s son and composer Fintan O’Hare.

The ‘Porcelain Sound-Box’ is constructed from discarded ceramic fragments chosen from Rebecca’s studio by Rebecca and Fintan, with the aim of finding objects with particular sound qualities and resonance. These are struck by electric motors with the order of the sounds loosely based on conversational interaction; each motor gradually increasing or decreasing in speed, and continuing, interrupting or imitating the previous sound. The work requires the listener to press the START button to initiate a sequence of sounds. Each sound sequence lasts a few seconds and is different each time it is played.

Lucy has accompanied this piece with a haiku. She says:

“Cornwall has had a long association with the China Clay industry and The Morrab Library has a large collection of primary and secondary sources relating to this subject. In addition, the use of porcelain in musical instruments dates from around the 8th century. Being Cornish, and with a keen interest in music and local history, I relished the opportunity to spend time in The Morrab Library exploring these subjects and to create a poem that focussed on the resonance of sounds within porcelain and linking it to the environment from which it was originally sourced.

The accompanying poem is written in the form of a haiku, and the few carefully chosen words aim to compliment the complex dynamic art work from which it took inspiration. As the poet I saw this fragile interactive sculpture tapping into the hidden voice of granite. I am very grateful to the support of the librarians at Morrab library and their curation of a wide range of texts relating to the subject of Cornish China-clay in my research for this piece of work and to my co-collaborators Rebecca and Fintan.”

There is a notebook beside the installation to write your thoughts, feedback and comments about the piece.

Upstairs in the Natural Sciences Room, Rebecca Harvey has installed a bowl, made of a piece of bark, mounted on a wooden plinth. She is asking members and visitors alike to write, on the piece of paper provided, why they think The Morrab Library is a special place and leave it in the bowl.

She writes:

“The Morrab Library is often described as a ‘special place’. Do you have a favourite room? Or thoughts about what makes The Morrab Library special to you? Please contribute to artist in residence Rebecca Harvey’s research into the popular phenomena by writing your thoughts on the pieces of paper provided and popping them into the bark bowl below”.

Rebecca will then make these pieces into a Morrab ‘thought book’ which will be on display towards the end of their Residency in December.

Mark Cottle has given many brilliant talks at The Morrab Library, and other venues locally, on subjects ranging from illuminated manuscripts to Arctic exploration. He always provides a Reading List for his fascinating talks and study days – and they formed part of the inspiration for our new series of ‘Reading List’ blogs published on our website following each of our Library talks.