SHIFT: Sarah Christie

Before words, there was seeing. There was also touch.

In this film, Sarah Christie discusses her interdisciplinary work with Imperial College School of Medicine, where she develops tactile observation skills for students using clay.

She considers the ways in which clay invites us to pay attention and to correspond with it via slow and deliberate processes and often uncertain outcomes.

Clay affords us the opportunity to translate our observations into 3D form; so could it encourage us to observe and describe a 3D object more fully? How can touch facilitate different ways of articulating our observations?

Sarah Christie is an artist and educator working mostly in clay and drawing, who teaches on the BA Ceramic Design course at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

This film is part of SHIFT, Freelands Foundation’s quarterly series of short films spotlighting varied practices, approaches and philosophies within art education.

Captions and editing: Sixbetween.

All audiovisual material and research is courtesy of the artist.