Pigment to Pottery
From breaking to making!
Until now the purpose of my art has been to question the status quo and to test boundaries. This is most apparent in my treatment of ceramics.
In 2005 my final ceramic work was breaking pots, breaking the mould, and questioning the symbolic meaning of the pot as a container. A theory that Wilfred Bion, a British psychoanalyst, describes as containment, that is to contain the feelings of others, transform them and to return them in a digestible form. It is one of the roles of the caregiver. At that stage I also retired after 25 years of nursing. Myself as the mother, wife and nurse was re-examining her place in the world through art.
20 years later..
I now want to make not break. To start the process with traditional pots in simple functional forms. The purpose is to reaffirm the holding capacity of the bowl. To add to this what I have learnt from my past experimentation.
Most important of these experiences is my work with ochre. I have painted with ochre and different mediums on stone, canvas and wood. It would be an exciting new path to make the support in clay. To explore ochre in slips and design to decorate with before firing. I will research the glazing qualities of ochre, from various zones where I am based, with attention to their individual characteristics and examine how they work with clay.
Breaking Bowls 2006
The context for this past work was the role as mother nurturing a large family that was interrupted through transferring countries and leaving half the family in their teens behind.This break in the continuity of my role created a break in my identity as a mother. This created simultaneously a sense of loss and freedom and shaped my new sense of identity. The hard work of putting the parts back together again, incorporating the fragments to make a new but changed whole, led to this work. Each bowl conforms to the same external shape but bears fingerprints internally through the pushing and pressing of the clay against the plaster surface of the mould. Using a hand forged iron hammer the bowls are then broken and the musical sound of that breaking is captured.
Breaking Bowls was exhibited in 2006 at the Cocoran School of Art, for the Bachelor of Fine Art final show. Numerous durable replicas of unglazed bowls were stacked on a metal table and contained the broken shards left from making the screen. The bowls were made in a press mould. The mould used was made from inside the largest size of a traditional American yellow-ware kitchen mixing bowl. 12” diameter 10” height. High fired porcelain clay.
From fire pit to table top 2025
The clay was collected from a local clay pit near Washington DC
A pond converted into a rudimentary pit fire to fire the tea bowls. The bowls remained a little porous but were sufficiently water tight.
For my father's 80th birthday in NZ, each guest was given a tea bowl to sip water. They individually toasted and gave a haiku about their friendship with my father.
Hopi Land artist making pots, decoration and pit firing
Hopi Land, Arizona, USA, 2005.
An introduction to meet and sit with local artists in Hopi Land, led to this mother and daughter allowing me to sit with them as they worked with the pots.
They follow in the tradition of their family using similar decorations and forms for their pots and then to place them fire them in a pit fire on their land.
Olive
Olive
2025
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The mission for this socially engaged art project is to give each nuclear Palestinian family, who have been pushed out from their homes due to war, an olive tree.
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The symbolism of the olive tree is listed below, but perhaps the most overwhelming, is that of survival. In the face of frost or fire (leading to the death of most other trees) new growth sprouts from the roots.
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Moreover, that with the tree comes the contact details of the donor, so that the recipient has an opportunity to reach out. However, the land on the which the tree is planted might need more, and without sufficient infrastructure a tree on its own is only a start. A lean-to shack might have been built and need a solar panel roof for means of cooking, or a composting toilet. Holding hands across nations, the donor can ask for appropriate help and the recipient might be able to find ways to arrange for these sort of needs to be met, again with help.​
The olive tree is native to Asia Minor, which in older historic maps, includes Palestine and parts of the Levant. It is the oldest domesticated tree and its oil is the basis of middle eastern and mediterranean cooking.
Vision
2025 - 2026
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​This creative art process is designed to foster dialogue, change perspectives and spark positive change. It enables community members to participate and co-create a project outcome. The desired outcome is to set in place better understanding and to build relationships between groups.
The means to achieve that in this project is to create an opportunity for individuals to donate an olive tree to Palestinian individuals in Gaza and connect donors with recipients in the hope of forging a beneficial relationship.​
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Olives
Ever since a dove brought an olive sprig back to Noah's Ark, it has meant peace. It stands for strength: Hercules' staff was an olive trunk. And sacrifice: Christ was seized on the Mount of Olives and nailed to an olive-wood cross. Olympic victors wore olive wreaths and were rewarded with oil from sacred trees; this symobolized victory and wealth. It signifies the transfer of power. Kings and emperors were anointed with oil. And, from Athena, it means fertility.
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Mort Rosenblum​
Olives symbolize peace with its leaves and joy with its golden oil. Aldous Huxley​​
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Olives like grapes are essential to any life worth living. But you can't see by the light of burning wine, nor massage a friend's temples in grape juice, or heat a house with vines. Mort Rosenblum​
​There where the sun permits, the olive tree takes root and gains ground. Georges Duhamel
Latest
This project is sadly on hold.
My heart goes out to people on both sides of the Gazan question, both Israeli and Palestinian, who have been killed, injured or made homeless.
With the timing of the American / Israeli attack on Ali Khomeini and Iran, I fear a political alliance is rebuilt.
I cannot see that this American alliance of today’s political leaders bodes well for Gaza.
I fear that this alliance would accelerate a new diaspora of Palestinians from Gaza.
I love the earth and believe in its regeneration, but, to donate hundreds of olive trees now would feel like support for the gross outrage that has been visited upon the people of Gaza. It would not benefit the people who have been forced out. It would I fear, instead, benefit the developers and non-Palestinian future inhabitants.