Change comes in many ways through the making and the firing to the light, environment and natural aging as each piece finds its place. My favourite pieces, indoors or out, feel like a breath of fresh air; that like a long view connects me to the sea or landscape.
Clays
The starting point and backbone of my work is the clay itself how it responds and reacts, its own colours, texture & surface, earth the natural environment, geology of landscape, its space & surroundings and evidence of past human habitation. Inherent qualities of the natural world are strength, beauty & fragility.
Each piece uniquely engages with its space and surroundings which are often the source of inspiration. My work aims to engage the viewer with the strength and beauty of the clay and the delicacy of its surface. Clay has a memory. In the making process it holds every print or touch of tool and hand; incidental, accidental, design deliberate or necessary. The (almost sacrificial) firing process is where this memory is finally made solid; from here is no going back. Reactions to the building process I deliberately invoke involve the crackling of the fine surface clays through my laminating process and the more extreme cracking and breaking apart of the clay, both of which provoke a response. At times I scantily apply and wipe away stains and oxides to enhance the surfaces to make them more available.
