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
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