Specimens 2023~April

Developed Extensions of Specimens Series

2023-captured

Moss, Raw Clay, Stoneware Ceramic, Dirt

Investigating life forms clawing at edges of framed technology and humanoid architecture.  Vitrified forms creating literal and figurative barriers, Bryopytha swimming and thriving in artificial valleys. 9 Months of uninteruppted growth, 20 seconds of video.

Put Your Back Into It

 

Put your back into it~

2023 clay extension

Terracotta, banding wheel, water, Samsung telephoto lense, plastic bag, vinyl table, sponge, wooden modelling tool, 2200K LED lightbulb, 7000k LED lightbulb, Grey Paper

Text/ure

 Texture uncoiled and unearthed~

Striations and sinews

Texture experiment using leather-hard Northcote Pottery terracotta

Tested tiles

 

Tested tiles baked and rested 

Blessed trials, failed but not wasted 

Little slithers of documented heat 

Vitrified and withered into a silicate treat 

A hard stoneware treacle 

Used by not just one, but used by many people

Snack size and and good to go 

Minds eye imagines what we will throw throw 

Images and lactations of dreamt glazed forms 

A ballet between the imaginations of the mind and the recipes of praised norms

One way ticket

 

The soul creaks through a frigid body.

Soft fires warm the feet of the human spirit.

Winter months floating on in with changing volumes of the self.

Tic tacs of potential, and hums of new beginnings.

Its four months till I fly out.

I can already feel the heat of a mediterranean and the bitterness of the north sea

It took 10 days to settle on the decision to move to Europe. Like orbiting planets aligning themselves in motion, after years of transitions events in my life have just sort of lined up. I'm going to fly into Europe in August. I will start with some backpacking and then try to settle down in some bitterly cold British town. It’s a thought I've always brewed in the back of my mind and I guess things have just come together to make this possible.

But hey, maybe I will be back in 2 months, maybe the coffee will be too shit or the weather too cold. 

But it is a one way ticket and I have a British Passport. 

I may stay, I may come back, I'll guess we'll just see how it goes...

Frozen moment

A trapped piece piece of atmosphere, a frozen moment in time 

Spheres of airs whomst prespence causes textures that are simply sublime 

Like a bursting can of lemonade paused in a moment 

The bubbles provide a striking visual component 

It's a reminder of the transient nature of glaze

While at high heats its the honey that drips down clays 

As the kiln soaks above a thousand degrees gases crawl out of oxide chains 

Its this chemical release, followed by cooling that causes glaze’s bubbling terrains 

In that frothing cauldron of the kilns heat,

Is where these crystallised forms are made complete 

If I could offer you a piece of advice

Its to release gases and ensnare in a prism of silicate ice 

Learn the processes ,put in the work and pay the price 

For while you might lose sleep and kilns shelves the results are more than just nice

They are stunning, gorgeous and deserve to be praised 

For when those shining orbs rain down into streams of glaze

We remain transfixed, we are left simply amazed.

In Praise of Shadows

A cross-shadow is the final vanish I apply to my sculptures. Flattened and preserved in segmented recordings, my works exist not just by clay occupying space but photons arranging themselves on the digital sensors I use to document. For while the depth of my perception allows me to see and understand the forms in front of me it’s quite different for you. You rely on the technology I use to record as it is the only portal that transports you to my studio. This technology demands light and lots of it. I’ve always loved the baroque contraposto appreciated in the work of painters such as Carrivagio. In order to bring out the shadows and mute the midtones I set my ISO as low as I can and my exposure for as long as I can. I place my light perpendicular to the recording device so the light slices across creating peaks and valleys where both highlights and shadows can reside. Low ISO, Long exposure Rate and Angled lighting; these are my tools I repeatedly turn to for the setups I use and the tones I seek. For when that light just hits right it gives me the finish I desperately seek, that last slice of a dark glimmer that allows matter and space to form in your mind.