Artist Statement
The nature and characteristics of materials interest me as well as processes that provoke a dialogue between what materials do and how I intervene, the tension between chance and control. I work with clay because of its mutability and the sensual process of coiling; no other material relies so completly on the sense of touch, both in making and in our experience of a held or felt ceramic object.
My work is influenced by place, for the last ten years my focus has been the geology and natural history of the coastal regions of Northumberland and Eastern Scotland ; including tide-line finds and observations from the liminal space between land and sea. I am interested in the movement of water over sand, recently inspired by the estuary of the River Tay and the beach at Tentsmuir where the sand is constantly in motion, forming new channels as salt water meets the river.
Through experimentation I have found a process that mimics the physics of this movement, forming ripples on the surface of my ceramic work. This involves a rythmic and repeated motion over the surface, catching the porcelain at a receptive state of dryness. I change direction as I work to give the sense of water flowing around and over the form. I want to give a sense of movement not only to the surface but to the form as it turns.
Post firing, I work with layers of artists’ pigments, repeatedly washing them in with turpentine and then sanding back. Using this process allows the marks to emerge and develop, I never know the outcome, but have a sense when the piece is finished and the colour, textures and form work together. This process of uncovering and revealing of the embedded marks from the making of the work is the uncovering of hours of repeated touch, both in the handbuilding and rythmic coiling and in the texturing of the work . The marks mean each piece has its own distinct and unrepeatable character , individual as a fingerprint.
Education
M.A. Ceramics [distinction] UCLAN, 2013
Post-Graduate Diploma in Ceramics [distinction], Goldsmiths, 1992
B.A. Illustration, Manchester Polytechnic 1978
Exhibitions
Solo
'In the Window' Bluecoat Design Centre, 2016
New Work Hart Gallery, London, 2009
Vessels, Hart Gallery, London 2007
Selected Group
Roots and Wings,’Scottish Potters Association; collaboration between S.P.A., Manar House, Inveruie and Gallery Heinzel, Aberdeen, October-November 2024
Then and Now , Centenary Art Exhibition Part Two, Visual Arts Scotland, Dalkeith Palace, Edinburgh, August 2024
Ulaidhean Treasures SSA, Gairloch Museum, July 2024
Kiss of the Sea, Graystone Gallery. Edinburgh Jun, 2024
Potfest Scotland, June 2024
Open Studios North Fife. May 2024
Summer Exhibition, Sarah Adams Studio . Padstow, Cornwall, July 2024
Then and Now , Centenary Art Exhibition, Visual Arts Scotland , Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh , Feb 2024
Clay, Hospitalfield, Abroath Angus Dec. 2023
Summer Exhibition, Sarah Adams Studio, Padstow, Cornwall, July 2023
Potfest Scotland, June 2023
Compass West, Visual Arts Scotland, Glasgow, May 2023
Winter Exhibition, Resipole Gallery, Acharacle, November 2023
Blue Gallery 57 Arundel, West Sussex August 2023
Compass North, Visual Arts Scotland, Inverness 2022
Potfest Scotland , Scone Palace, Perth June 2022
Elements: air and water, Gallery 57 Arundel February-May 2020
Handmade Oxford June 2019
SelfScapes Dalby Forest, North Yorks, June 2018, ceramic installation, part of research group at St Johns University York
Shifting Boundaries, Mirror Gallery, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berks, September- November 2017. Collaboration with Yvette Ja consisting of an installation combining ceramics, textiles and drawings.
Handmade Chelsea November 2016
Brighton Art Fair, September 2016
Made Bloomsbury , London, May 2016,
Paper, table, wall and after, works on paper, Gallery North, Northumbria University December 2014-Jan 2015, National Taiwan University of Arts, Tapipai, November 201
Participatory Arts Projects
‘Voice of the Child’ Collaborative 6-month project and artists’ residency, Northumberland, culminating in exhibitions at Baltic and Woodhorn Museum, July 20018
Awards and Residencies
Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award, 2023
Hospitalfield, Angus 21 day residency August 2022
AA2A Paper Studio North, Northumbria University, 20014-15
Arts Council of England Research and Development award 2007