I have been meaning to start this blog for at least a year. I am the sort of person who writes letters but never has any stamps and it's quite likely that this Blog will go in fits and starts. The first thing to do is to give the current work this blog will house its context.
I work with clay of any type and colour, I would not however call myself a ceramicist, clay is a material that is so versatile, alive and raw, never losing that connectivity with the earth until it is frozen, suspended in time by the firing process. I have the utmost respect for ceramicists and it is due to this that I feel unable to call myself one. Their knowledge and rapport with clay is such that they have a deep understanding not only of the properties of the material itself such as shrinkage rates, elasticity of differing clays but also on all areas that come under ceramics such as glazes, oxides, building techniques such as slabbing, throwing coiling, firing cycles, differing types of kilns and fuel, the list is very long. My understanding is rudimentary, and I concentrate mostly on building my understanding of clay through empirical research. This does not always lead to success but it allows me to forge my own studio practice with a material that has had centuries on association laid on it.
