My work in ceramics explores the qualities of skin and how skin protects the human body. Skin is flexible and constantly renewing itself. It can express our individual qualities by the way we decorate and modify its natural state. I am interested in expressing skin textures by accentuating the cracks, the folds and those qualities that could be interpreted as “imperfections”. I like to work in multitudes, which represents my interest in society, and the sense of belonging to a group or crowd.

The making process, which incorporates different materials into a clay body and slip, allows the surface to develop extraordinary characteristics. The concurrent wrapping deliberately applied, suggests a mark of identity to a group, while allowing the individual details to enhance each piece. Within one large grouping there are sub-groups, united by their similar external appearance through design, yet no two vessels can ever be the same.

The inside of the work is borne about by many layers of the external and is sometimes the only area with any colour. As with our selves we often do not disclose to the outside world our true inner self. This inside, outside dualism, is the idea of opposing concepts that human beings are made up of two independent constituents, the body and the mind. Although independent, one cannot operate without the other on either a factual or subliminal level. This is what especially interests me.

My work draws from the qualities of the human form, concentrating on the outside surface to reflect the suggestion of internal emotions.