Processes of Form.
I do not shape the pieces; my task consists of creating the conditions needed for the forms to appear. My work is based on the behaviour of material, modifying the density of a clay body in a given volume through the addition of combustible materials which disappear during the firing. The variety of densities produced by adding varying quantities and types of material lead to differing behaviour during the drying and firing stages.
The initial structures are regular polyhedrons, either single units or in sets. Their smooth surfaces and sharp right angles are where the following chaotic process will engrave all its formal changes.
From the minimum point of vitrification, where clay will no longer disintegrate in water, through to melting or semi-melting point, the process will bring about a wide range of evolutionary changes in the base form, showing new and intimate aspects of the play between material and fire. Dilating and contracting, the loss of volume through vitrification, changes in shape caused by melting, the movement of a solid mass on an unstable surface...these are conditions which bring to mind the original evolution of the earth, recreations of nature's power on a human scale.
The forms exist already. My work is to discover them, allow them to appear...