Clay hands and embodied making

Getting out of my head and into my hands

As part of my third ceramic residency, in the series of four representing the four elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Air) and four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), this particular one in Italy was to replace the element of AIR with HANDS.  

Air is a challenging element for me, it is the element of life and creativity but also of intellect and communication. As I have struggled with insomnia over the years, I have found my mind a challenging aspect to control and quiten down in the darkness of the night, and wanted this exploration into clay a form of quitening.

I was drawn to working with clay during COVID, as a direct antidote to my tech-driven profession and incredible anxiety I was experiencing during the pandemic. 

as a means to explore the tactility to natural materials and flow states that are anchored in natural botanical forms. I would like to learn to share this gift of creativity and slowing down with others. As a sufferer of insomnia and anxiety, I have explored many processes to alleviate these mental health challenges and have found the creative process of hand-building with clay, a key antidote to slowing down in a cultural narrative that heralds speed, progress, deadlines and performance and results-driven outcomes. All of my ceramic works take inspiration from nature, and are invitation to the maker and the viewer to slow down to nature’s pace. My network is newly established and am seeking this grant as a means to collaborate, learn from and establish new networks that will springboard me into a new career as a ceramic artist.