I enjoy researching and reading narratives in history. Stories about makers and ideas that connect us to our rich ceramic traditions. It’s a way for me to find relevance in our contemporary times and to further improve and develop my own clay practice. Even those individuals who seem to bypass traditional clay understandings (consciously or not), appearing to pave a new way with clay, even they, are still connecting to the past as a foil. In their rejection of our adopted history, skills, and understandings they validate the existence of these traditions. As I busy myself with mundane tasks around my studio, I often find myself musing on this and how my own practice is influenced by others' stories, their works, and their own processes and challenges, successes and failures.
I entered my degree course in 1994, fresh from high school. I knew I loved clay but that was about the extent of it. In my second year, an artist-in-residence program invited the makers TOM AND ELAINE COLEMAN to our campus. They brought with them a selection of their sublimely thrown forms, delicate glazes, and intricate carvings. I was fortunate to sit and watch, enthralled by their processes. My lecturers strongly encouraged me to further my interest in carving and celadon glazes by observing their practices. The next years of my life were consumed by my passion for clay, and then life overwhelmed my attentions.
