The central core for my proposal, is the investigation of our responses to the theme of Artificial Nature, focusing in particular on the botanical world.

My enquiry is about the viewer’s mixed reactions to sculpture that discusses this theme; feelings of attraction/repulsion (not necessarily both together), fear of other- worldliness, the familiar/unfamiliar. My sculptures celebrate these emotions and invite the viewer to embrace their own individual thoughts. My recent works, of which my most recent statement discusses, involved the use of mixed materials and Porcelain; the everyday and the special. Porcelain symbolises strength and fragility, death and purity and this material is the main medium for discussing my apprehensions to our changing planet.

In contrast to this, and for this residency, I want to explore further the possibilities of colour application for the next stage of my work. I want to prove that the use of colour is crucial in expressing the theme of artificial nature. A recent joint exhibition, with the artist Pauline Aitken, has further fuelled my intentions. Ms Aitken is a printmaker who has access to electron microscopic images of plant surfaces, and she in turn manipulates the image and it’s colour and has explored to great depth the use and effect of colour to our perceptions of the plant world. Applying such a spectrum in ceramic medium however, is a great challenge and one that I do not have the facilities here to explore.