"I have always enjoyed spending time outdoors. Rock climbing and camping, hiking, or rambling around in Australia and New Zealand take you to some places that leave lasting memories, not just of the physical environment, but also of the weather, wildlife, and shifting light. Some locations hold traces of previous human habitation, which add another layer to the resonance of the place.
With my work, I try to capture a feeling of the places I have been, and hope that they encourage people to stop, look, and appreciate what is out there." (p 42)
To me, these pots look like the ground, the geology of a place, to the extent that they reference place. I'm surprised at her choices; she trained as a botanist, and I'd expect her landscapes to include life, maybe to be green and patterned. In deserts the geology shows like this, but in New Zealand?
I find them wonderful pots. I respond to the pictures, would love to handle them. I've made a few unglazed pots, some with mixed clays, but so conservative by comparison. Hers are a challenge.
And they are a technical marvel. She mixes different clays, stoneware and porcelain, and "local materials". This is not supposed to hold together, as different earths, even if they are all clays, shrink different amounts in firing, and the pots fall apart. "I can have big losses due to cracking along the joints between the different types of clay. Sometimes a piece warps to an unacceptable level... On a really bad run, I can lose 80% of a kiln load, but if all goes well, I lose none." Imagine the patience, and the devotion to his vision, that such risk of loss entails. I suspect I'd just do something else.
Her pots remind me of Jennifer Lee's, (jenniferlee.co.uk) which I also love.
Sue Scobie's are wilder. are wilder.
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