Conference of the curves

19cm h, 30cm w 30cm d glazed Earthenware

This artwork came about after I acquired some hollow dies for my extruder gun. That means I can now make hollow clay tubes of various shapes and sizes, square ones, round cylinders, oval cylinders and hexagonal section tubes too. One day I was playing with a multi-colour pencil. I was testing the pencil to see what it’s like to draw with the side of the lead rather than the point and I made a set of drawings of sculptures which didn’t really work, the three dimensional thinking couldn’t quite be done on the page.

Then I did a very stylised simple drawing that was almost diagrammatic or perhaps just graphic, basically it was a circle with a set of curves inside it. I knew that was a strong idea and that I could build on it in three dimensions if I kept a bold outer circle with a set of straight and curved tubes meeting each other at various points in the middle. Basically it’s something like a steering wheel shape but liberated from that kind of functionalism.

When I have an idea that I think is strong I have to go on to make it in clay to see if it works. In this case as so often I only know part of the structure when I start and I have to work out the rest as I make the thing. It’s very much a case of the mind and body working together to find the solution to whatever task I have set myself. This is why I could never really be a very conceptual artist, I really do need to work with my hands and my brain at the same time.

As an artist I make things because I have something to express. When I make something it says “look at this it’s worth taking the time to look at and think about what it might mean”. What I make does not necessarily state it’s meaning except in its own terms nor in a language you recognise at first sight. Artists are notorious for making statements or doing things that on the surface appear absurd. Sometimes those actions or objects are later revealed as deeply meaningful and sometimes they remain mysterious.