Earlier this month, Gormley joined other artists, including Tracey Emin and most recently Sarah Morris, in contributing to a new series of online artist diaries, hosted on White Cube’s Instagram account.
“Artists are used to great stretches of time spent working alone, and I think to allow the wider audience to glimpse into their world can be quite uplifting,” said the gallery’s artistic director Susan May.
Gormley – who usually works in two busy studios in London and Northumberland – felt it was important to represent the “quieter, smaller” aspects of life in his diary, which have come to the fore during the crisis.
“The shelling of peas, the darning of socks, the sort of thing my mum used to do sitting and watching the television… knitting,” he explained.
Speaking from his home and workspace in rural Norfolk, the artist noted how he was surrounded by his wife, artist Vicken Parsons, making a hat for their son, Ivo, and daughter, Paloma, seated at the table making a dress for her niece.
The sculptor’s seven daily posts also document his first six handmade plates, external, a progression from the bowls he has been producing since taking an evening pottery course four years ago, alongside the process of making glazes and mending some of his older works.