As a coastal dweller, moving from the rugged nort-east cliffs of Scotland to the Northumbrian coastline, my work is continually inspired by the fragments of shell, fossil and bone, washed up the beach with each tide - vessels imprinted with traces of life and contents that have long gone.
I often use the organic process of the wheel to make sculptural forms, as it captures the porcelain in its fluid, moving state. With its rhythms of cyclical growth it is very close to the way that Nature makes a form; in a semi iquid state, exerting pressure from the inside and then solidifying with time. Each piece is individual and therefore unique, sometimes belonging in a pair or in a group, sharing markings, surface treatment or form.
I first experienced porcelain as a medium in Copenhagen, working as an assistant to ceramicist, Christian Bruun, graduate of the Danish Design School, and was immediately drawn to its creamy and fluid-like qualities. It was my interest in its fluidity and similarity to calciferous matter, such as bone and shell, which continued throughout my Masters Degree in Fine Art at Grays School of Art, Aberdeen in 2004.
I often combine each porcelain piece with found objects from the beach, such as rope, rusty metal, sea glass and driftwood, as these too have their stories of transience. They act as a rough plinth to the times when we have held in our pockets a found shell, bone or fossil, treasuring it just for those few moments.
I often use the organic process of the wheel to make sculptural forms, as it captures the porcelain in its fluid, moving state. With its rhythms of cyclical growth it is very close to the way that Nature makes a form; in a semi iquid state, exerting pressure from the inside and then solidifying with time. Each piece is individual and therefore unique, sometimes belonging in a pair or in a group, sharing markings, surface treatment or form.
I first experienced porcelain as a medium in Copenhagen, working as an assistant to ceramicist, Christian Bruun, graduate of the Danish Design School, and was immediately drawn to its creamy and fluid-like qualities. It was my interest in its fluidity and similarity to calciferous matter, such as bone and shell, which continued throughout my Masters Degree in Fine Art at Grays School of Art, Aberdeen in 2004.
I often combine each porcelain piece with found objects from the beach, such as rope, rusty metal, sea glass and driftwood, as these too have their stories of transience. They act as a rough plinth to the times when we have held in our pockets a found shell, bone or fossil, treasuring it just for those few moments.
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