Artist's Statement

I work with naked, unglazed porcelain. My pieces are wheel-thrown to the verge of destruction in order to find the limits of the material. They are then subject to the ferocity of the kiln – fired to 1300 degrees – an environment in which the fragile clay body twists and sways in its molten state. When finally they emerge, transformed by lyrical alchemy, they are shell-like, shimmering with a papery translucence – almost see through…

Every step of this meticulous hand crafting process is centred upon revealing the true character of this highly treasured material. The marks of the hand and tools that helped fashion the simple drum-like forms are left in the surface as permanent records of the making process – the spinning, the squeezing, the carving.

Ultimately though, in the midst of the inferno, nature decides what the final form will be - with gentle undulations and irregularities that cannot be controlled by the maker, the finer details of the completed object are, in truth, crafted by the unknown...