Layer upon Layer

摘要

When studying ceramics at Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now Wolverhampton University) in the 1970s, derelict houses waiting for demolition surrounded the college. The layers of peeling wallpapers, mainly 1950s, 60s and 70s floral and paisley patterns, often with delicate-looking burnt edges, fascinated me. I made sections of brick wall with thin clay sheets of 'wallpaper' embedded with coloured clay flowers and borders. Using an agateware 'loaf' made from different coloured clays, I cut and rolled the slices into the clay surface, rolling and stretching the pattern, deliberately emphasizing the handmade element with the designs creeping from one layer to another. In London my studio was on the third floor of a warehouse, and here the plaques were simplified into single sheets using poured coloured slips and applied agate stripes, borders and floral motifs. The idea was transferred into press-moulded bowls, and I liked the ay that the design distorted slightly during press moulding so that the surface pattern would 'fit' the shape. Decorating both sides involved considering how the flat, decorated sheet would look as a three-dimensional piece. The agates though, had their limitations and I started to use inlays cut from sheets of coloured clays, which allowed more freedom and control.