My current body of work has been made alongside my reading into agateware, an 18th century pottery process. It’s name refers to the marbleised and striated patterns of the semi-precious stones that it was trying to emulate. Some have traced it back to the T’ang dynasty where European robbers excavated funeral sites and smuggled pieces back to the curiosity cabinets of European collectors. Once in Europe it inspired a very ornate and curious teapot trend. 

I like thinking about clay as a material culture that holds the past. Each loose grain and mineral filtered through time. Sculpting things out of clay, in a really primitive way, for me holds all history. Creating things from another time of another time. Going into an underground cave and uncovering bones, relics and fossils.

My pieces are all handbuilt, either from slab or press moulds, after the clay has been layered and rolled then sometimes whittled to create facets when they are leather hard. Each piece is unique, showing my hand and unrepeatable. I use locally sourced stoneware blends that I hand stain and vitrify at cone 6, making them strong and durable, one day to be dug up in the ruins.