Stark Contrasts: April - June: view all

These pieces evolved from earlier work mixing red, buff and white clays to produce organic marbling.

The introduction of black clay sparked an interest in the extreme contrast with the white, and so began a series of monochrome vessels in the same vein. The difference in tone created between the stark white rims and deep black interiors suggested a severe sense of order imposed onto the otherwise organic vessel.  It invites a view of human control within the natural world.

Whilst I loved the two voices of black and white, I included some red clays back into the marbling, and then stained white clay to produce other colours. Introducing secondary colours into a monochrome work was introducing another theme or idea, or akin to introducing a new voice, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. The success of the fit was purely subjective, I discovered, so I began to form the notion of colour being symbolic of ideology or populations. The resultant mix is organic and as such reflects real life. This implies a discussion of ideas and mixing of cultures.

In contrast to this there are pieces that have clear colour separation and here the voices shout against each other with no mingling. Voices residing next to each other in stark contrast is reflective perhaps of our social-media influenced, partisan world today.