Beyond The Wheel
Unique
Hand Built
Ceramics
Resident Artist
Studio 5A,
Nucleus Arts Centre,
272 High Street,
Chatham,
Kent
ME4 4BP
Studio 5A,
Nucleus Arts Centre,
272 High Street,
Chatham,
Kent
ME4 4BP
Creating ceramics is akin to practicing alchemy. You take a sticky material dug from a seam in the ground and transform it into something concrete and tactile - something permanent. So permanent in fact it can survive for centuries. Hold a fired piece in the hand and you are touching the maker’s exact marks, creating a dialogue between artist and viewer no matter how long ago that ceramic piece was created.
It is said that the body is always implied in ceramics, from ergonomic design through to the physical efforts of the maker. Likewise, there is an organic, often anthropomorphic, feel to my hand built work. Methods such as coiling, pinching, or slab building are employed. By experimenting I allow space for invention, my aim being to create a sense of movement. Layers of decoration are applied at all stages of the making process, be it in slip, engobe, underglaze, or glaze form. Each piece is subsequently fired several times until the desired effect is achieved. Only then does the work finally feel finished.
Some consideration should be given to the ceramic’s role as functional object opposed to the purely aesthetic qualities of sculpture. It can, of course, have both. Indeed, today’s highly revered ceramic from the past was quite often a functional piece itself. However, I tend to approach the subject from a Fine Art perspective, with a particular fondness for sculpture.
It is said that the body is always implied in ceramics, from ergonomic design through to the physical efforts of the maker. Likewise, there is an organic, often anthropomorphic, feel to my hand built work. Methods such as coiling, pinching, or slab building are employed. By experimenting I allow space for invention, my aim being to create a sense of movement. Layers of decoration are applied at all stages of the making process, be it in slip, engobe, underglaze, or glaze form. Each piece is subsequently fired several times until the desired effect is achieved. Only then does the work finally feel finished.
Some consideration should be given to the ceramic’s role as functional object opposed to the purely aesthetic qualities of sculpture. It can, of course, have both. Indeed, today’s highly revered ceramic from the past was quite often a functional piece itself. However, I tend to approach the subject from a Fine Art perspective, with a particular fondness for sculpture.
