CAN$325
Approx. 20 cm x 18 cm
A backhoe on a tractor is an empowering implement – ask a farmer. For me, it allows me to easily dig a pit, throw in broken pottery or ugly ceramic objects cursed by the kiln gods, and bury it for future explorers to discover.
When I think back to all the museums I have visited in my life – as a child with my family, as an adult in the various countries that I have lived or visited – they almost all have something in common – pottery shards. Even after I began practicing pottery, I don’t think I paid much attention to these whole or broken pieces in glass cases. Like most people, I preferred the more dramatic exhibits like dinosaurs, mummies, etc.
Ceramic vessels date back about 20,000 years. Most aboriginal cultures discovered the magic of clay and fire to create a vessel that was used for water, food, ceremony or worship. “What are you working on these days?” I am frequently asked. My answer is often “vessels”, which stops the conversation. I am not always ready to go into the details.
Many of the objects I create are vessels that are transformed by alterations, carvings, and the use of mined minerals for decoration. It is often the glaze that gives them permanence.
