Artist’s Statement

Colour. Pattern. Form
Much of my past work was a reflection of my carefree seaside upbringing in Golden Bay and also my now home, Motunau Beach. These were often aquatic themes but more recently colour dynamics with a fondness for bold pattern usage offset with simplicity of form are at the forefront. Design is instinctively woven through it. The journey is always changing direction. This keeps me artistically stimulated and hungry for more.
I employ various techniques coiling, slab rolling and the use of lesser known and revolutionary paper clay which I make into clay monoprints.
My paper clay mono print method:
It begins by using a flat plaster-of-Paris surface (approx 600mm by 450mm) as my ‘canvas’. With this I decorate it with coloured clay slips brushing, slip trailing and masking with paper stencils building up the desired final imagery. A mixture of liquid clay and toilet-paper pulp is blended together and applied on top of the coloured design to approx 5mm thick. Once some of the moisture of the clay has been absorbed by the plaster of Paris the entire clay image is peeled off like a piece of pastry to reveal the clay monoprint in reverse. This is finally assembled into simple forms such as bowls, wall tiles or vessels maximising the decorative surface design.
Who knows where the artistic path will take me next. I’m looking forward to seeing where it does.