Simon Bayliss 4 DARN

Created by Simon Bayliss, an artist and music producer based at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, Cornwall, UK, the Simon Bayliss 4 DARN collaborative 100% silk scarf features a collage of imagery and ideas. Inspired by the memorable works of English artist and sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth. Distinctive Hepworth sculptural and coastal imagery has been interwoven amongst elements from Simon’s own work, including shapes from the surface of his ceramic pots and items that have been floating around his studio.

‘Puckered lips, pressed leaves, the frisson of a wave against rocks, echoed forms found in modernist abstract painting, and feathered lines of clay slip, like cake icing). I was asking myself `What would Babs Hepworth wear?’’

Paying homage to St Ives, Cornwall and the iconic work of Barbara Hepworth, we asked Simon a series of questions ahead of the launch to paint a picture of how he creates his art pieces and his connection with the coast…

In your own words, tell us what you create and why…

I mostly make ceramics on the wheel – rustic slipware pottery, with painterly surfaces containing playful references to place (Cornwall and the South West), queer identity, and art history.  

My background is in painting and contemporary art, and this informs how I think about surface design and the conceptual elements of the work and their display. 

I make pots because I want to make useful objects and advocate a position of social responsibility. The process also fulfils different parts of my creative brain – the architectural, dexterous, academic, and irrational. 

How do you start and end your day?
My day starts with dream analysis and ends with a kiss.

What is your connection to Cornwall, and St Ives in particular?
After growing up in East Devon, I have mostly been in Cornwall since graduating from BA Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art in 2006. Following this, I worked for various surf schools as an instructor, both in Cornwall and the west coast of Ireland.  St Ives has been home for the past eight years and much of my research looks at the art and pottery history of St Ives, and offshoots from there. Some of my mum’s family are from Cornwall – my great aunt was a Cornish historian and archaeologist, and bard of Gorsedh Kernow.   

What is your favourite thing about the town?
My studio and the surf at Porthmeor.

Describe your studio…
It contains an electric wheel and kiln, lots of buckets of slip and glaze, bags of terracotta, a wall covered in pictures (urinals, teapots, rave posters, Barbara Hepworth sculptures, unicorns etc… ) and shelves of old work that haunt it. 

What are you exploring at the moment within your work?
My solo exhibition Standard Ware, opens at Hweg in Penzance on 18th November, which will present batches of tableware such as teapots, pasta bowls and coffee cups. I’m exploring the position of production potter by making repeat designs so that they can be more affordable (which is partly in tension with my desire for elaborate surfaces).  Beyond that I’m thinking about an exhibition of functional pots, each with individual enquiries and cultural references – i.e. after making production ware I want to try something more experimental.    

Do you have any rituals when it comes to creating? 
I tend to get on with it. 

What are you currently reading?
Moon Palace, by Paul Auster 

What skill/practise/thing have you always wanted to try and never had the chance?
I would like to make a traditional Korean Onggi (lidded jar), fire it in a wood-fueled kiln, grow loads of Napa cabbage, turn them into kimchi, place it in the pot, and leave it outdoors to ferment over winter.   

What was the last song that made you dance?
At a small dance music festival in North Devon this summer, I saw DJ sets by Tash LC followed by UNIQU3, who played Jersey Club, Gwom and other genres of black and African rave music I’d never heard before. DJ Lag – Ice Drop is a Gwom classic. 

Simon as Barbara

Where will you travel to next?
Manchester for The Manchester Contemporary Art Fair (my work is in a booth curated by PINK)

Tell us about your favourite summer memory…
Dancing with my boyfriend at the festival mentioned and swimming with friends at Porthgwidden beach in St Ives. 

What are three things you would like to do before the end of the year?
Finish an album I’ve been working on for the last four years, spend lots of time with my family and friends, and surf more. I make dance music, so you could listen to Mouth Harp Track, a release from last year if you would like: https://open.spotify.com/track/2RAhacnFKcYIheclgpi1Mq?si=5d29e98f41604100

You can shop the Simon Bayliss 4 DARN silk scarf design here.