The passage of time and the ability of certain objects to connect us with our past have a strong influence in my work. My raku and stoneware pieces explore the ideas of collecting and placing special objects and are conceived as small-scale installations. Raku fired boxes, vessels and containers with permanently bound lids speak of a familiar past. In their intimate groups, they are like carefully placed fragments of a landscape; abstracted elements of water, horizons or rock, echoing the fire and heat, the smoke and flames of raku. To some, the eggshell-type fragility of slip-cast ceramics and the drama of raku firing may seem like an uneasy combination. Initially I was drawn to the slip-casting process because of the creative possibilities offered by repeating forms. Removing the precision-like shapes from their plaster moulds has a similar thrill for me as breaking open a rock to find a fossil. The seam-lines of the clay meeting the bright white plaster are deeply satisfying and the empty moulds with their sunken shapes seem beautiful in their own right.
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