My work is narrative. I have a deep desire for my art to tell an unambiguous story about our landscape. Geology is at the core of much of my work. I am fascinated by the sense of power within contorted, fractured layers that shape our moors, mountains, cliffs and coasts and horrified by the damage done to it by the reckless behaviours of man during the geological epoch now known as the Anthropocene.
Each piece is unique and fragile. I mix wild clay and other materials into my work; I use lithographs and decals to decorate; I weave wire and foraged plants then dip it into casting slips of porcelain or wild clay. I delight in experimenting and in taking risks. My work is high fired to bring out the translucent nature of the porcelain and to flux or burn any inclusions. This causes tension within the piece which results in warping, craters, exploded splinters of rock all of which add to the finished story.
The people who have influenced my thinking most are Adam Buick, for his simplicity of form and his use of found materials, Gillian Lowndes, for her daring, experimental pieces, and Fred Gatley, for showing me how to achieve remarkable surfaces on unglazed clay. Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures, reflecting relationships between people and between people and their landscape, and Richard Long’s landscape art fascinate me and are sometimes reflected in my sculptural and installation work.
