Strata Jug

Product description

This body of work relating to moorland landscape began7years ago and the work you see is the by product of an ongoing process of exploring and experimenting around the theme. The qualities of the various clays used provide both the form and surface of the work.
I enjoy combining different clays which are prepared by additions of paper, groggs, grits, oxides and other materials to create interesting, contrasting surfaces in respect of both colour and texture. This approach tests traditional ceramic practise as the clays used shrink at differing rates. The firing process and transformative power of the kiln provides an added dimension, offering it’s mark by way of distorting, altering, cracking, blistering and other such surprises.

The preparation of the clays forms a large part of the process but the actual making itself is more intuitive. Fusing the organic and geometric shapes or ‘patches,’ is a response to both the emerging form and the qualities of the individual clays.

Each finished piece is an individual work although I often group pieces during making as the clays may suggest relationships by their similarities and the forms sometimes naturally relate to each other. I have never been interested in function or repetition and the work seems to ‘move on’ with a life of its own after a short series is made. It remains experimental, seeming to push at the boundaries which keeps me engaged and excited by the journey.