When I think of touch, my memory leads me to the most powerful memory I own. It is complex and unwanted in its pain and fear. It would be lovely to say joy, but at this point revisiting that memory, it is only these words which run and crowd and oppress my mind.
When I thought of birth, I thought of something instinctive, primal, and natural. My son’s birth was none of those things. There was no feeling that signaled to my instincts that this was a birthing process. It was just a nothing in my lower body. There was no sensation of labor at any point, as this was taken from me. There was no supportive movement, contact or touch which would normally occur, or which I had rehearsed for. It was precise, frightening, and surgical.
There was a kind cool hand of the midwife, holding my hand, as my body shook and shuddered whilst I went into shock. Then my partners hand after her.
The more I tried to stop the shaking the more it rocked my body. I have no idea if my lower half was shaking as I couldn’t see it. It was obscured by a textile barrier. My breath was fast and punctuated by a repetitive beep and a painful repeating grip on my upper arm, a cruel pain reading my statistics. Stabbing at my shaking vessel body.
There were some touches and sensations that were enacted upon me that I cannot put into words. In-fact this is the first time after 3.5 years, where any words have formed around any part of this experience.
I digress, because the most powerful touch during this 1 hour of my life was the 2 seconds where they placed my son’s cheek to my cheek, and that golden, brief contact with his small wet new face sliced through my shaking. Where everything stopped, I calmed, and my body fell still. Then they took him away and I shook again.
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“When I think of touch”. 20th September 2020. Corrina Thornton.
I gained an MFA in Bergen, at KHiB now known as KMD, University of Bergen, Norway. Where I work as a 50% Assistant Professor in the Fine Art department in the focus area of ceramics and clay. As a school it is multidisciplinary and my courses and tutor group are made up of students from BA to MA levels from all fields, and we are all, faculty, and students alike, encouraged to cross into multiple practices. It is the reason I chose to study and teach there, as this ability to work with different mediums and meet new ideas and perspectives is how I feel excited about the world.
My work has become more and more based on cathartic processes and autobiographical narratives since graduating in 2011. The use of matter - material voice collaborations, in my practice is firmly rooted and is used as a mirror to visualise the emotive and create affect through multidisciplinary practices including clay and ceramics, sculpture, video and drawing.
How people experience and understand clay socially is used as a tool to articulate human experiences. For example, my sabotage of the “beautiful”, technologically advanced, and aspirational porcelain in various works. I aim to disrupt these associations and cause chaos in our perception and senses. Collaboration between clays agency and it constructed social meanings are often used in my projects. Clay has an amazing ability to capture moments and contain emotion because of its malleable nature whilst allowing contradictions to appear in its duality - stability and instability. This allows emotive unities, fractures, and disruptions to be embodied.
Education
08/09-06/11 Master of Fine Art. KHiB, Bergen, Norway.
09/05-06/08 3D Design: Ceramics, BA Hons. Bath Spa University, Bath, UK.
06/04 City and Guilds Design and Craft – Ceramics. Level 3.
06/03 City and Guilds Design and Craft – Ceramics. Distinction.
Exhibitions
06/22 Not Fit For Purpose. Artendal, Arendal, Norway
07/22 Villvin Kunsthåndverkmarked, Risør, Norway
3/22 BLOKK Jubiliums Utstilling, USF, Bergen, Norway
02/22 Repercussions. Stor Galleri, Risør Kunstparken, Norway
11/21Juleutstilling Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
12/21 Juleutstilling Kunstparken, Risør, Norway
9/21 Stipendiat Utstillingen, Risør Kunstparken, Risør, Norway.
8-10/21 Sørlandsutstillingen, Arendal Kunstforengen & Kragerø Kunstforengenen, Norway.
12/20 Juleutstillingen, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.
12/20 Juleutstilling i Kunstparken, Risør, Norway.
11/20 Juleutstillingen, Opplandskunstsenter, Lillehammer, Norway.
11/20 Skjelv av lykke, Agder Kunstsenter, Kristiansand, Norway.
07/20 Villvin Kunsthåndverkmarked, Risør, Norway.
06/20 Vekks. Senter for Keramik Kunst, Trevet, Ringebu Prestegard, Ringebu, Norway.
01/20 Replik, Kunstparken, Risør, Norway.
12/19 Velvet Ropes, BLOKK, Bergen, Norway.
11/19 -12/19 Agder Kunstsenter Stipend Utstillingen, Kristiansand, Norway.
12/19 Juleutstillignen, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.
08/19 Trappegalleriet, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.
07/19 Villvin Kunsthåndverkmarked, Risør, Norway.
11/18 Jule Utstillingen, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.
12/18 Art and Folk, Jule Utstillingen, Bergen, Norway.
09/18 Trappegalleriet, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.
09/18 Curated. European Ceramic Context, Bornholm, Denmark.
02/17 Reaching for a temporary stillness. Solo Exhibition. Risør Kunstpark, Norway.
11/16 Stipend Utstillingen, Agder Kunstsenter, Kristiansand, Norway.
09/15 BLOKK Atelierfelleskap stiller ut på Galleri Puls, Norheimsund, Norway.
04/15 GIC Biennale, Korean Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale, South Korea.
03/15 Transformator. Kusntnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway.

01/15 Transformator. Hydrogenfabrikken, Fredrikstad, Norway.
01/15 Beyond G(l)aze. KODE 2, Bergen, Norway.

11/14 Transformator. Bomuldsfabrikken, Arendal, Norway.

09/14 In the margins of our minds. IAC/Norwegian Crafts, Dublin Castle, Ireland.
06/14 Corrina Thornton, Bjørn Mortensen and Cato Loland. KRAFT Gallery, Bergen, Norway.
05/14 Beyond G(l)aze, Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China.

01/14 SMASH. Lace Market Gallery, Nottingham, UK.

10/13 Relay. BLOKK, Bergen, Norway.
10/13 Belgian Ceramics and Glass Triennale, Mons, Belgium.

09/13 Relay, BLOKK, Bergen.

09/13 “Topographies of the Obsolete: Vociferous Void” British Ceramics Biennale. Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK.

09/12 The Museum of Longing and Failure (MOLAF), Dawson City, Canada.

09/12 Part one of “Resurrecting the Obsolete”, KHiB and British Ceramics Biennale. Spode, Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK.

09/12 BLOKK presents BLOKK, as part of b-open, Bergen, Norway.

05/12 Biennale de la Céramique, Andenne, Belgium.

05/12-09/12 UNICUM, International Ceramics Triennial, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

10/11 “Habitat”. Salon Gallery. Warsaw, Poland.

09/11 GIC Biennale, Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale, South Korea.

09/11 “Graft”. 20 years Jubilee exhibition. Galleri Format, Oslo, Norway.

07/11 “Knock Knock” Billedhoggerforening, Billedhoggerparken, Oslo, Norway.

05/11 “Shades of sensibilities”. Østeroy Museum, Østeroy, Norway.

04/11 “Pines and Powerlines”. KHiB MA show. Bergen Kunsthall. Norway.

Teaching/Work
08/18 - 08/24 Assistant Professor in Ceramics and Clay, 50%, KMD, UiB, Bergen, Norway.
04/12 – 08/16 Research Assistant, KHiB, Bergen. Topographies of the Obsolete artistic Research Project.
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Residencies/Workshops
9/21 Birth Rites, Workshop participant, Kings College, London
3-8/ 21 Mothering artist Masterclass, with Ghinwa Yassine, Canada.
01/17- 12/19 Artist Residency in Motherhood – international network and residency.
2012 - 2015 Topographies of the Obsolete, KhiB, Bergen/Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
08/15- 07/16 Stipendiat/artist in Residence. Risør Kunstpark, Risør, Norway.
06/15 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Workshop: Wood: Environment as Muse.
, Deer Isle, Maine, USA.
05/15 International Ceramics Workshop, Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale, South Korea.
01-02/09 “Project Network”, Guldagergaard, International Center for Ceramic Research, Denmark.

10-12/08 Artist in residence, Vallekilde Hojskole, Denmark.
9/12-16“Topographies of the Obsolete” Research project KHiB and British Ceramics Biennale, Former Spode Factory, Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK.

08/12 Infinite Gestures, Workshop. Rejmire Art LAB, Sweden.

04/11 “Down on the Farm”. Organised as part of the Pure Art Project 2010-2011. Site specific Project, Dluzew, Poland.
09/10 European Ceramic Context Workshop, Bornholm, Denmark.
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Permanent Collections
IcArt, International Corporate Art, Oslo - Collection of Viking Cruises.
Commission for Norsk Utenriksdepartement (Norwegian Foreign Department), two large porcelain vessels.
KODE, Bergen, Norway.
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway.
UNICUM international permanent collection, Carinthian Gallery of Fine Arts Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia.

MOLAF. Museum of Longing and Failure, Travelling museum of small sculptures. Canada.
Danmarks Keramikkmuseum, Grimmerhus, Denmark.
International Ceramic Research centre, Guldagergaard, Zealand, Denmark.