It’s the Losing You (Puts the Blues in Me)

As a sculptor, I am interested in two main themes: abstract responses to organic natural forms such as shells, rocks, bones and plants, and also the female form. These themes inter-relate. I love the way natural swelling organic forms recur in the female form and I also respond strongly to the forms, rhythms and colours of the coast.

 

I hand-build in clay, working very intuitively and responding to forms as they emerge. I want to achieve dynamic curving movement with a strong and rhythmic three-dimensional quality. The textured and coloured surfaces enhance the forms which are highly tactile, and I use slips and oxides to increase the dramatic potential of the three-dimensional elements.

 

The work in the Coastal Blues series has a strong maritime flavour. I spend a lot of time on the beach and as my studio overlooks Bideford Bay I watch the colour of the sea changing and this finds expression in the sculpture. I use a slip I make from the clay on Westward Ho! beach (which comes from a pre-historic forest) to give a sense of place and to ground the work in both place and time. In a personal way, the sculptures embody experience of change, re-growth and the reinvigoration of identity.

 

I work with a grogged high-fired clay that is appropriate for display outdoors. Fired to 1250 degrees, stoneware clay is wind and weather-proof.

 

 

 

A dynamic curving form with a mysterious interiour where the dark purple of the Westward Ho! Beach slip contrasts with the paler exterior. It stands on its own slate base.

Photography by John Andow

Ceramic Stoneware

30x18cm