Artist Statement

I create ceramics that serve as a canvas for abstract surface design. In my hand-thrown bowls, my patterns aim to evoke shorelines, those ever-shifting places where land meets the sea, as on the African beaches where I spent so much of my youth. Through my creative process, I seek to push the transformative limits of clay. I often intentionally distort the symmetry of my thrown pieces to create an undulating wave. I add depth and movement by layering contrasting glazes onto the surface. As the glazes flow and meld in the heat of the kiln, my designs take form, reminiscent of the play of light on water at the ocean? 

My recent work has a common theme: bark. At first I used porcelaneous clay to throw tall cylinders, then applied dark, granular glaze at the base, adding colour in streams, rising up the trunk. More recently, with the studio closed due to Covid 19, I turned to handbuilding. I took slabs of clay, and pressed them against trees for texture. These bisqued slabs became my molds, giving me the texture I needed for my hand-built tree trunks. To further enhance the feel, I added grit to my matte glazes and underglazes. 

My intention is to intrigue, and have the viewer wish to reach out, to touch , and to hold.