My Inspiration

I create art because I enjoy the journey: the interplay of shapes, experimenting with  texture, pattern and mixing medium.  In my ceramic practise  I am driven to communicate my vision of the world and my place in it by exploring the complex relationship between the powers of technology and the pull of the organic in contemporary life.  I gain satisfaction from re-using materials which are discarded and overlooked. It interests me that decayed and displaced objects can take on new energy.  I look upon found objects like buttons, pill packets and woven fabric as tools of communication. The marks they make when impressed into clay form the private language of the sculpture I make.

My abstract figurative sculpture, and my animal forms, are hollow built, using coils or slabs moulded into plastic household utensils. Components are made separately and assembled. I enjoy the process of fitting the parts together, until the whole appears right. This is where the  'magic' kicks in. The sculptures begin to take on their own personality and dictate twists and turns to the body and limbs. It is an exciting moment when the coils I build with, like an umbilical cord,  give birth to a new creation.

I have always used  bottle glass to part glaze my 3D  picture tiles. In my ceramic picture boxes I have tried to create a cloisonné effect by melting ground glass between walls of clay to decorate the whole surface. Lately I have begun including mixed media like feathers to make wall sculpture and “family trees” with hanging parts attached with wire.

My motto ‘reuse, recycle and reduce’ underlines the lessons and projects I stimulate my art and pottery students with.  I enjoy teaching and being the catalyst for others to realise their creative potential.

 I really believe all creation is good for the human soul. It brings fulfilment and happiness.