Sculptural Ceramics and Public Art Projects
I am an experienced artist and educator with a passion for clay and a commitment to ceramics. After a substantial contribution to Community Arts and Adult Education, I completed a full-time MA in 2007, and am now turning my focus towards my own work.My main interest and motivation as a maker is the potential for clay to carry a record. My inspiration comes from urban archaeology - traces and remains, the intentional and accidental layering of materials that create a physical memory of the city. I aim to contribute to this narrative through clay form and surface. My current focus is also specific, about a particular place in my past, the Hulme estate in Manchester, since demolished and rebuilt.
The Hulme Crescents were built in 1969, part of the solution to Manchester’s housing shortages following mass clearance of the back to back terraced housing. I lived in the Crescents for a year and on the edge of them in Hulme for another seventeen, eventually witnessing the demolition in 1992. Using my photographic record of the estate in various stages of disappearance, I have attempted to respond to this record and my memories through clay.
I hand-build with slabs, coils and extrusions using stoneware clays, paper clay and other additives, and reduction fire to a high temperature. I use slips, glazes, screen-printing and transfers to create surfaces with image, colour and texture.
I have carried out two large-scale ceramic mural projects with communities in Manchester, also using memory and creating new visual records. I am interested in continuing this work.