I have created this site to help catalogue my creative pursuits and to use as a cost effective way of promoting the work I do. As my computing knowledge increases and the work I do changes, the site will also change, I will be including a work historical section and a travel related section. My contact information is below and I welcome all good energy communication. This is not a secure site but if you are interested in purchasing any of the work, this can be done via telephone. I accept cheques and Master card, and insured shipping can be arranged, using the most effective service, for which there will be an additional cost. Halifax is a well connected city offering national and international services, it is my intention to post new images roughly every three months.
The Work on Display here is all low fired and is quite often referred to as sawdust or smoke fired which is a very loose description for low technology art pottery. The pots are decorative in nature and will not hold water and it is best not to expose them to direct sunlight, in the same context as you would not expose a painting or a carpet. They have a light beeswax coating as a final protective finish.
The majority of my work is produced using the potters wheel as the form generator and recently I have been making large constructions using a slab roller ( thanks Sheri! ). The future may bring a combination of both making methods. I use a coarse Raku type clay body ( for its thermal shock properties ) hence I have a very low loss rate, but this also has a lot to do with the type of shapes I use. I employ a multi technique eclectic approach to decoration in the pursuit of the harmonious whole work!!! which includes the extensive use of colored slips with various texturing and burnishing attributes with the use of inlay (scraffito ) carvings, terra sigillata, and under glazes. I presently do not use glaze, although I haven't ruled it out, tending to feel it gives the work a sort of cold lifeless quality compared to the hand working of the just clay approach. Glazes hide things, every mark I make in the clay is exposed for all to see, attention to detail is focused. I use masking tape a lot to help achieve definition and as a decorative element as it carbonizes into the surface when smoke fired. I bisque fire and then continue to build up the surface decoration with an unfired clay applied to protect some areas from carbonization. The kiln is a trash can! ( North America ) or a dustbin ( UK ) with holes drilled in to allow oxygen to enter to help combustion. I may move up to an oil drum for the larger works on the way. I use many different woods as dust, shavings, and lumps plus any other oddities of a combustible organic nature as I see fit. I do not use salt, copper or any other heavy metals in the combustion process. Firing may take between 40 minutes to 8 hours depending on the effect I'm shooting for things are then scrubbed clean. I sometimes add 22kt gold leaf and semi precious stones to the work with a light beeswax coating as the final finish. Artists Statement I prefer to say very little about the work I am doing. I feel most comfortable with one or two line sentences and prefer to let the critics and viewers interact with the work as they may. I do enjoy a sense of ambiguity, I am interested and influenced by many things, and the work is a mirror of this. Recent quotes are as follows: "The recent work has a lot to do with the re-engaging of my fascination with the British Neolithic , it was the time my ancestors began to farm. They watched the skies and created monuments to the great unknown, sort of interfaces between the land and sky" Orkney Islands, Scotland, September 1998 "I have a fascination with what people believe, have believed in, and consequently made as a manifestation of this belief " Varanasi, India, March 1994 |
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