Mary
Watson

Mareware Ceramics

Coastal Cuisines

Coastal Cuisines is a collaborative ceramic art project that brought together diverse international communities in Sunderland to celebrate the intersection of culture, food heritage, and sustainability.

From September 2022 to January 2023, I worked with groups from ICOS (International Community Organisation of Sunderland), FODI (a drop-in service for refugees and asylum seekers), City of Sanctuary, Back on the Map (a community space in Hendon), and Sangini (a wellbeing support group for Bangladeshi women). Together, we explored Sunderland’s coastal food heritage through visits to locations such as Sunderland Marina and the Wild Oyster Project, where participants engaged with the marine environment, created drawings, shared recipes, cooked and reflected on the links between local and international cuisines.

I designed a unique dinner service inspired by Sunderland’s historic Lustreware pottery, blending its iconic reflective finishes with participants drawings and influence from Sunderland’s coastline. The group collaborated in bringing this design to life in clay. The tableware and project reflect participants’ shared stories and cultural influences, celebrating the vibrancy of Sunderland’s diverse foodscape and the connections made between people and place.

Coastal Cuisine, podcast

Myself, project manager Suzy O’Hara, food researcher Suzanne Hocknall and Fanni Ngambi talk about working with the project participants, the community that grew around this work and our journey of discovery! From marine ecologies, coastal heritage to ceramic tableware.

This podcast was created by Lotte Steele.

Co/Lab Sunderland · Coastal Cuisine

We want to thank all the wonderful participants who took part in this project and our partners FODI, ICOS, City of Sanctuary, Back on the Map, Sangini, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and Life Kitchen.

Coastal Cuisine was commissioned by SeaScapes Co/Lab, (University of Sunderland) working in collaboration with Foodscapes (Newcastle University), National Trust and National Glass Centre. The project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and forms part of SeaScapes: From Tyne to Tees, shores and seas.
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Cooking Sessions at Life Kitchen

Audio and editing curtesy of Lotte Steele

_{Project Celebration}

_{Photography curtesy of Colin Davidson}

Families Tableware Production Workshop

Photography courtesy of Colin Davidson

Trip to Sunderland Marina Wild Oyster Project.

Photography courtesy of Colin Davidson.

A Small Selection of Participant Drawings from Across the Project

Photography cutresy Mary Watson

Clay (co) Construction Ph.D.

I am doing an Arts & Humanities Research Council funded creative practice PhD, Oct 2023- Oct 2027. Entitled Clay (co)Construction, exploring how creative clay practice can be used to improve health, wellbeing and social isolation within the veteran community in Sunderland. This is a collaboartive doctorate, partnered with local charity Veterans in Crisis Sunderland and funded through the Northern Bridge Consortium.

In the first year I have developed a community group titled Veterans into Clay, the group meet weekly to work creatively with clay, learn new skills and socialise. The group are exhibiting work at the National Glass Centre Oct 2024 - January 2025.

Veterans into Clay Community Group Work - 2024

Drawing Games, 2021

_{Through a series of drawing workshops with family, friends, and colleagues we explore the question: what objects from our lives do we value and why? Influenced by archaeological ceramics, drawing games and social histories I have created several ceramic and glass sculptures. These sculptures act as an alternative portraiture, not depicting images of people, but instead helping us consider ourselves through the objects, patterns, and shapes that we surround ourselves with, entwined and abstracted in our memories. This work was exhibited: in the National Glass Centre, 2021; Pineapple Black and Redcar Palace, 2022.}

RUTH (JUNIOR’S) RUCKSACK

_{“It seems to come everywhere with me, even when you wouldn’t really need to bring a rucksack. I’ll pop out for a short walk and have my rucksack. I’ll go to the shop to get one item and I’ll have my rucksack.”}

Ruth Watson, 28, Reading.

JACOB’S SHIELD

_{“
I chose to draw a gum shield because I feel it
is a great representation of rugby and the joy I feel when playing. I chose to
draw this one because it's an item that I've had and replaced many times in the
fifteen years that I have played rugby. The gum shield I used as reference is
the brand that I have used most consistently and have felt the most comfortable
using. For me no alternative has beaten it.”}

Jacob MacCormak, 24, Highlands.

RUTH’S JUG

_{“The
little silver jug you’re looking at, I’m very fond of it. My husband and I,
John, bought it for his parent’s silver wedding. Which must be a long time ago
now, I can’t remember the year, and I’ve liked it ever since”}

Ruth Watson, 94, Cumbria

ANTHONY’S POT

_{“The name of the pot I drew is Sankofa. It reminds me of the first pot I made when I went to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. In my first year we were taught modelling processes in clay, and using pinching methods I made this pot. I was pleased with the finishing I gave to it and have kept it for a long time. The pot became a stepping stone in my ceramics career.”}

Anthony, 32, Sunderland

ED’S HAT

_{“This is not a sound I grew up with, its one
that found me, and it found me through a hat! ... With
each piece of informational discovery, this hat was becoming a part of me,
Millwall was taking over, and I was loving it!}

Ed Moody, 32, Glasgow

SUZIE’S KEYS

_{“My house keys represent somewhere safe and homely for me and my husband to live in. My car keys enable me to travel to work, the supermarket and now that COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, go and visit friends and family that I haven’t seen for ages... the last thing on my key ring is the fob from the 2012 Olymics which is a nice reminder of that Olympic summer.”}

Suzie Williams, Sunderland

KAREN’S CRYSTAL

_{For me, bringing that dish out of my cupboard and filling it with homemade strawberry or raspberry jam and presenting it on the table with afternoon tea... just takes me back and brings me great pleasure.}

Karen, 61, Essex

All Participant Drawings

Antonious

Harry

Juliette

Rose

Nat

Lisa

Alice

Christine

Adam

Amy

Xani

Functional Archive

_{Sculptural Archive}

Sunny Bank Mills, 2021