ceramic leaves
ceramic leaves
As the seasons come and go, the 150 ceramic leaves I created would remain in the oak tree as long as nature would allow them. I went to many locations in the forest trying to find the perfect tree.
The tree is in a hidden location in the New Forest, with the leaves ready to be found by any intrepid explorer.
As I hung the leaves a friend noticed I had written my name on one. I explained I had carved my name and also my mother, father and brother into the back of 4 leaves. At the time I had no reason for doing so. “A family tree indeed” my friend said and tears filled my eyes. Even though we wouldn’t be together again as we were, I had brought my family together one last time to a place we had loved and visited so many times.
The ‘family tree’ was never my intention; my aim was to provide an unsuspecting forest roamer with an unexpected creative experience while out walking. But through the process of creating it turned into a much more personal journey.
Family Tree 2017
Visitors to Calshot beach were witness to 50 brightly coloured stones on their walk. These stones were bold and bright, the colours did not belong. After time the sea would engulf the stones and return them to their rightful state of being.
Stones at Calshot 2017
Sugar Crash 2018
Sugar gives us a dopamine hit. With my prolactinoma I am dopamine deficient and take medication to boost my levels. Does sugar really make us happy?
I went without refined sugar for a month. I had sugar lows as my body crashed and was frustrated with the difficulty of eating out and enjoying alcohol. I was constantly checking the labels of food, and I was surprised to see how many ‘healthy’ foods included sugar. Sugar seemed to be in everything.
I wanted to make a piece of work that made us consider how much sugar we consume. This cube represents the amount of sugar represents our average annual sugar intake. This cube is made entirely from sugar.
My recent work has focused around my fear of trypophobia (a fear of tiny holes, circles, and bumps especially in clusters). I wanted to explore my fear and push my own levels of tolerance. I have used clay to create two sculptures.
'Breached' is a human figure covered with tiny holes, my ultimate fear. The clay allowed me to penetrate the surface of the body. I am fascinated that some people have seen this sculpture and can barely look at it because of the hole clusters while others do not react at all.
'Burrowed' is a nest type sculpture, it shows what I feel is a shape which could have been formed by nature which is again covered in the holes that torment me. It feels like creatures could emerge from the holes at any time. It was hard to look at both pieces as I created them, and as the area of holes became greater my itchy skin reaction got worse. However as I have been around the works living with them in my work space, I have found it easier to tolerate to the point of almost no reaction.