Through my sculpture I hope to pass on my passion for wildlife to others, and to emphasise the need to conserve and care for the world around us.
I use both Raku and stoneware clays, firing the work in the electric kiln in the studio and in a Raku kiln in the garden, designed and built myself. I am developing Ash Glazes from recycled wood ash from the wood-burner that heats our cottage.
POLARIS
This is a project completed recently and underlines my concern for our stewardship of Planet Earth. The first three images above reflect the work.
The Polar Bear is an enigma, striding the roof of the world alone. For half his year he hunts in the world of the midnight sun, for the remainder he sleeps deep in an ice-cave while the Polar winds bring screaming freezing chaos.
Our intervention and lack of respect for our environment is accelerating change. The madness of Arctic oil prospecting is fanned by our continued carbon dependency. Rising sea temperatures are pushing back the ice, and this magnificent wanderer now has the fight of his life to survive. His ice is breaking up. His world is falling apart. It breaks my heart to see him slowly cornered.
I made two Polar Bears, sculpted from a solid block of clay, hollowed out and fired twice in the kiln to finish them. I have re-fired my bears, using Raku white crackle, copper and turquoise glazes. I fired them almost to destruction in the Raku kiln at 980 Centigrade, and smothered their glowing bodies in the sawdust reduction bin for an hour. Then, covered in smoking ash, too hot to handle, I plunged them into ice cold water. Their shining blackened bodies stand on glass, a mirror to their world; cracked, fissured and shattered.
We have to act now. This is a shout for help. Go out and tell the others.
| 
