The Pennine landscape and seasons are the backdrop to everything I do. I make pottery on the border between function and sculpture: in essence vases, bowls, bottles and cups, although these are really just 'Serving Suggestions'. Work is multiply fired, starting with the wood kiln and ending with lustres.
Landscape inspires my work on multiple levels; it’s a direct source of materials used in the clay, glaze and inclusions, material ‘won’ in the landscape as I walk. Features such as waterfalls, peatbogs, cliffs, rocks and woodland are referenced in the form and surface, not a literal depiction but something more nuanced. I a series of bottle forms inspired by waterfalls and the Japanese tokkuri (sake bottle) the vessel is pierced by rock inclusions; pored glaze forms runnels around these additions, much in the way of water as it splashes over and around rocks, tokkuri is a word play on the ‘tok, tok’ sound that the bottle makes when liquid is poured from it, in this case you could say that the vessel is an expression of its function and its function playfully directs the form.
During my time with the aa2a project I hope to extend this interest in the vessel and landscape by looking at scale and adaptability. I want to investigate my ‘vase’ form taking into account mass, logistics and aesthetics. With my ‘bottle’ form I’d undergo an experimental investigation into the material properties and chemistry of rock inclusions, pushing the boundaries of my ceramic surfaces. Both of these investigations I would hope will result in a small suite of bigger pieces.
My work has been described as beautifully ugly - I hope the work is playful and sometimes jarring; surprising, delightful and ultimately resonant of their materiality and the landscape from which they derive.
The Pennine landscape and seasons are the backdrop to everything I do. I make pottery on the border between function and sculpture: in essence vases, bowls, bottles and cups, although these are really just 'Serving Suggestions'. Work is multiply fired, starting with the wood kiln and ending with lustres.
Landscape inspires my work on multiple levels; it’s a direct source of materials used in the clay, glaze and inclusions, material ‘won’ in the landscape as I walk. Features such as waterfalls, peatbogs, cliffs, rocks and woodland are referenced in the form and surface, not a literal depiction but something more nuanced. I a series of bottle forms inspired by waterfalls and the Japanese tokkuri (sake bottle) the vessel is pierced by rock inclusions; pored glaze forms runnels around these additions, much in the way of water as it splashes over and around rocks, tokkuri is a word play on the ‘tok, tok’ sound that the bottle makes when liquid is poured from it, in this case you could say that the vessel is an expression of its function and its function playfully directs the form.
During my time with the aa2a project I hope to extend this interest in the vessel and landscape by looking at scale and adaptability. I want to investigate my ‘vase’ form taking into account mass, logistics and aesthetics. With my ‘bottle’ form I’d undergo an experimental investigation into the material properties and chemistry of rock inclusions, pushing the boundaries of my ceramic surfaces. Both of these investigations I would hope will result in a small suite of bigger pieces.
My work has been described as beautifully ugly - I hope the work is playful and sometimes jarring; surprising, delightful and ultimately resonant of their materiality and the landscape from which they derive.
