I'm delighted to be included in Siobhan O’Neill's Christmas Cornershop at Sweet Pea Jewellery.
Take some time to have a look and explore some of Siobhan's other selections at: https://sweetpeajewellery.com/collections/christmas-cornershop
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This specially commissioned collection celebrates Valentine's Day through an exhibition of work by a small selection of designer makers, displayed on the first floor of Fortnums for the month of February 2020.
I was delighted to be asked and created work themed with images of tulips and birds on plates, jugs, cups, and small treasure bowls with accents of gold and stamped detail.
I have created a special installation of ceramic pieces for The Merchant's Table that reflect the inspiration I take from found objects and their past lives. It was initially inspired by a conversation about this building itself and the exquisitely detailed original property deeds that Susanna showed me, all of them worn with age, stamped and sealed with faded blues, reds and ribbon. It evoked in me a similar feeling of excitement and promise that I experience when looking for 'treasure' that might in some way inform my work. I have a collection of dress pins and coins from the 18th century all found on the foreshore of the River Thames. I have pipe stems, white marbles and tiny keys displayed in groups or by colour and shape and each one holding its own evocative past narrative.
This work explores my desire to collect, order and display. It investigates an intimacy of scale and form and incorporates fragments of metal or found objects using gold lustre to add to the notion of 'treasure' and desirability. Pieces that are found to me and invoke a response that transfers itself into the work I make.
I always use white clay both thrown on the wheel and hand rolled and introduce areas of detail with the addition of drawn lines, images, colour and gold. I treat each piece individually and use handmade stamps and found objects to emboss and texture the clay. My intention here is to elicit the desire in you to seek out the piece to which you are most drawn in the same way that I search for and find the objects that most excite me. Searching for something precious to have and to hold.
Twitter: @the_merchants_table
After the lockdown directive on March 24rd I was struck by a phrase I heard describing “the weight of uncertainty”. I decided to translate this expression into a clay weight of 1 oz per day. 7oz in 7 days. I made a vessel everyday describing any feelings or information relevant to that day. I also wrote the date on the base of each piece.
The accumulated uncertainty over the ensuing 103 days of official lockdown are visually represented in this collection of vessels. They are all the same weight, are around 3-5 cm high and made of white and black earthenware clay. The darker clay reflecting days of darker mood. I stopped making them on July 4th when so many of the lockdown measures were lifted.
On January 4th a third national lockdown was announced and I returned to my previous project The Weight of Uncertainty.
This new work in progress is Part 2.
Once again I am using 1 oz of clay as the weight for each thrown vessel and I am making one for every day of this lockdown. The accumulating vessels represent the passing days and the weight of uncertainty felt within them. So far I have only used dark clay.
Events
Work In Progress
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