Firstly, I am not a ceramist or potter. My vessels are primarily made from textiles, PET or paper. I transform 'waste' into beautiful works of Art! Another major narrative in my work is memory, the experiences that the material has embedded in its fibre: the touch, words, conversations, thoughts, sounds, images, has it travelled? And then the pleasure of uniting diverse memories and conversations into one vessel.
There are no mistakes, therefore everything is possible.
Only purchase essentials: Canvas, impasto medium, steel, rods, varnish.
Use whatever is in the studio ie materials deemed for landfill but deserving of another life!Gifted fabric offcuts, papers, shredded archives, print over runs, old books, string, bark, used coffee filter papers, used teabags, string, florist paper, up cycled bedlinen + jeans, beads, metal bibs and bobs, knitting, used wooden chopsticks. travel receipts, PET bottles, ruined frypans... these are a few of my favourite things!
That just depends. I can look/ feel a material and visualise the end vessel. Eg: The Totems were triggered by empty fruit juice PET bottles. I loved the shape and the idea of them being stacked whilst also thinking about the idea of them being man made Urban Trees.
Or I'm drawn to a form, a ceramic shape, a belly , a bottom, a sculpture and use it as a springboard to an idea. Eg: this pot was based on a ceramic by Laura Jankelson. The surface patterning influenced by the sound of Charlie Parker and the black shapes are left over from other projects based on an exploded image of 'Ima', originally a tiny drawing from my then 3 year old niece, Rachel, which I transferred onto donated white bedlinen.
The House of Words came about as I was listening to The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams on Audiobooks. And the original form idea of the house was when I asked myself a question of 'How can I house my leftover offcuts and scraps of fabric?' The answer was in the question!.
'The wrapped vessel' : The final highlight colours of the light blue and terracotta string was influenced subconsciously from the visual luxury of my Innate bath mat!
Naoshima , Japan.
