In August I had the amazing opportunity to spend a whole week as an artist in residence at The Dreaming, a lovely retreat in Wales. I could join in with various retreat activities, but I also set up my own temporary pottery studio in their potting shed. I really wanted to focus on hand building during this week. It felt so playful and free to coil whatever I felt like making and not think about production work. Retreat guests also joined in on a pinch pot workshop and we foraged wild clay. I loved showing the guests what I was working on and showed them pots in different stages of the making process.
During the last couple of years I’ve really improved my throwing skills, but throwing has its limitations. You’ll always end up with something round. When I’m coiling I can experiment with other shapes. During this residency I really wanted to make pots that looked different from all angles. I also added textures with my fingers or with pebbles found onsite. I feel like my pots became much more sculptural. Some of them are uneven at the top, it feels like I stopped midway through. You could imagine how they’d continue onwards, like a book with an open end.
Before this week I would always call myself a potter or a maker, never an artist. Something changed this week though. Immersing myself in coiling while being surrounded by people who were not making and showing them what I was up to made me feel more like an artist.
These pots are now available in my webshop.
I love how you had the freedom to focus on a different technique during this residency. I particularly like the vase with the fold/dip, makes me want to shrink myself and cocoon in the snug round of the clay. Brilliant work as always! 😍