My practice stems from a motivation to understand the thrown form. Through a cyclic process of fracturing and reconstructing I hope to achieve an instinctive understanding not of the process of throwing but of the forms that result from this method of making. My belief is that through this process of reworking, of pulling apart and stitching together the various components of a vessel, it is possible to come to a truer understanding of what a ceramic pot really is.
I approach the breaking apart of my thrown forms almost as an autopsy, a dissection of the thrown sections. My process is an iterative response to the nuances of each thrown vessel which I slice, squeeze and punch, responding instinctively to the shifts in tension and balance in the form. It is a fraught and risky dance with gravity which I don’t always win.
I enjoy feeling the tension held within the undulating walls and the subsequent exhaling of that tightness as the clay is sliced, pierced and turned inside out. The surfaces of the vessels show traces of these operations in their scars and stitches. Through the cracks in the surface the viewer glimpses their interior, the void which is as integral to the vessel as the clay itself.
Mae fy ymarfer yn deillio o gymhelliant i ddeall y ffurf a deflir. Trwy broses gylchol o ddarnio ac ail-greu dwi’n gobeithio sicrhau dealltwriaeth reddfol nid o’r broses o daflu ond o’r ffurfiau sy’n deillio o’r dull hwn o wneud. Drwy’r broses hon o ail-weithio, o dynnu’n ddarnau a phwytho cydrannau amrywiol llestr at ei gilydd, dwi’n credu bod modd cael dealltwriaeth sy’n fwy gwir o’r hyn yw pot ceramig mewn gwirionedd.
Dwi’n ymdrin â darnio’r ffurfiau a daflwyd gen i bron fel awtopsi, sef dyrannu’r cydrannau a daflwyd. Mae fy mhroses yn ymateb ailadroddol i naws pob llestr a daflwyd yr wyf yn ei sleisio, ei wasgu a’i ddyrnu, gan ymateb yn reddfol i’r newidiadau mewn tensiwn a chydbwysedd yn y ffurf. Mae’n ddawns llawn peryglon gyda disgyrchiant nad ydw i’n ei hennill bob tro.
Dwi’n mwynhau teimlo’r tensiwn sy’n cael ei ddal o fewn y waliau tonnog ac allyriant dilynol y tyndra hwnnw wrth i’r clai gael ei sleisio, ei dyllu a’i droi tu chwith. Mae arwynebau’r llestri’n dangos olion y gweithgarwch hwn yn eu creithiau a’u pwythau. Trwy’r craciau yn yr arwyneb mae’r gwyliwr yn cael cipolwg ar eu tu mewn, y gwagle sydd mor hanfodol i’r llestr ag i’r clai ei hun.
