STREET DREAMS by Clink Street Ceramics

Clink Street Ceramics presents STREET DREAMS; a public display of ceramics exploring skateboarding history .The display is free for all to see and is open 24hrs.

April - August 2024

Clink Street Ceramics was established in Clink Street in 2014. This cobbled street is at the centre of London’s South Bank - a stretch of roads and pathways along the southern side of the River Thames. The South Bank has over the past 40+ years become the beating heart of the UK skateboarding scene - the Undercroft at the South Bank Centre has become the most famous skate park in the country, with a love hate relationship between the building’s owners and skateboarders.

This project, Street Dreams, aims to document and celebrate some of the everyday moments of skateboarding history through a series of ceramic artworks. Skateboarding saw significant changes during the 1980s and 90s, and this project focuses on skateboarding journalism during this vibrant and formative period. The ceramic pieces are all one-off artworks designed and made by studio potter James Sims. They are hand thrown from a variety of clay bodies and use geometric shapes inspired by the curves of skateparks and street ledges, rails, and steps. Through in depth research into 1980s and 90s skateboarding magazines, a series of ceramic transfers are used to celebrate these everyday moments often lost from documented skateboarding history.

The Clink Street Ceramic display space in Clink Street is one of London's only public art displays dedicated to the exhibition of pottery and ceramics.We present a programme of displays throughout the year that tell many stories of craft and making. A vertical volume which may be conceived as a public room, it is a welcoming and inclusive space that has been designed with collaboration in mind.We show our own work as well as displays by guest artists.

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