Gatherers

The majority of my work is driven by my fascination of the minerals and clays underneath, the layers of the earth and how we uncover them. Visually my work echoes local landscapes; in particular the volcanic formations of the Great Dividing range; how they were formed and the notions of time, geological metamorphosis underwrites many of my concepts.

While these landscapes are in a constant state of flux, I like to investigate the transformation of ceramic media and extend upon my fascination with exploiting and pushing porcelain’s possibilities and boundaries. My vessels are often thinly slip cast translucent porcelain. They have pockets of raw stoneware, rocks and minerals making their way through the walls of each form. My making practise is centred around the formation of nerikomi blocks. I layer coloured porcelains, wild clays and minerals, that I’ve collected, into intricate patterns which resemble familiar landscape features. Technically, fusing stoneware into porcelain is very rare in the ceramic world due to their vast differences in properties, firing and shrinkage. It has taken me years to perfect this personal process and I take pride that the end result is refined, skill driven and essentially flawless.

Igneous and metamorphic rocks play different roles in my incongruous stoneware recipes, mostly sourced from historical and local clay sites. They run amok during firing but become trapped in stasis, seemingly immovable and permanently suspended on the surface. My current body of work titled ‘Wild Women, Wild Clay’ has examined local mid-century Tamborine Mountain female potters, their sources of clay and making practises. Digging and processing these original sources of clay, I have been able to successfully high fire them within my porcelain vessels.

Thrown Contemporary Gallery in London presented the beginning of this investigation in their group show titled Gatherers in May 2020, exhibited in glasshouse gallery settings at OmVed Gardens in Highgate, as part of the Chelsea Fringe.