My work focuses on the use of surface: through decoration and functional choices alike, we communicate meaning to both ourselves and to others – my medium of choice is ceramics, but more specifically porcelain, for its challenging nature. I believe that if one aims to exert full control the clay, it denies the material itself a voice. Porcelain itself is a highly demanding material, quite unlike other clay bodies: it cannot absorb too much water while it is being worked or it will collapse, and yet it will tear if slightly too much friction is exerted upon it. Crafting with porcelain means listening to the clay and tending to its specific needs while working it.
In my work, I want to create a sense of narrative in its interpretation: the audience is invited to engage with it through both tactile and visual means by touching the relief surface and discovering the illustrations on it with fingers first, and then with their eyes; I have explored this through tiles and continue to do so through the creation of functional ware. Ultimately, I believe in the synthesis of beauty and function, where the object produced can be experienced through touch and sight, and in that order.
Mattie Amatt
Mapping our Sensorial Field To live in the world is a bodily experience; we are formed in part by the textures, sounds, smells and shapes that surround us as...
