As I cup newly kneaded clay in my hand, it puts me in mind of shells and ammonites. I am drawn to thinking about how far reaching, both backwards and forwards, this process connects me to the earth.
My handful of clay is made up of materials that have been on this planet for thousands of years, and here I am rendering them to a new use through a process of ancient shape. Later I will re-form and fire it to produce something stone like which is capable of existing usefully on this earth for thousands of years to come. It is very humbling to spend my days like this and I feel a real responsibility to make objects that are worthy of the space that they inhabit on this earth.
Buildings, trees, chimney and pebbles. I find my inspiration in the landscape I inhabit. Having spent much of my adult life living in Bristol studying for my ceramics degree at Bower Ashton School of Art, I am drawn to ‘edges’ in the urban landscape. This can mean the point at which stone meets metal or brick meets concrete. At my home in West Wales amidst this wild land I now move through, it is the natural edges of rock and tree, sea and cliff, pebble and pool that draw my attention.
I carry these inspirations within me, not to try and copy but more as companions that have become part of me.
A dip of glaze, a memory of moss on stone.