Artist Statement
I am a ceramic artist interested in relationships between people, and clay as a material within social, environmental and political contexts. I seek to explore aspects of the everyday through process-led enquiries. Socially engaged work forms a core strand of my practice.
My current work examines forms in vernacular architecture, such as bricks and coping or capping stones, an architectural form that is a common feature of the landscape of Manchester and Stoke where I live and work. By shifting their context as building materials they can be viewed as cultural artefacts. These become a means of interrogating legacies, with the potential of exploring new forms which more readily express individual and collective concerns.
Bio
After completing a visual arts degree at the University of South Africa, I continued to develop my ceramic skills and artwork while teaching adults with learning difficulties and disabilities in further education in the UK. I left full-time teaching to focus solely on my ceramics based art and social engagement work five years ago.
CV
b. 1980. Pretoria, South Africa
Lives and works in Manchester
2008 BA Visual Arts, University of South Africa, RSA
2010 Postgraduate Certificate in Education, University of Westminster, UK
Selected Shows and Projects
2022 - Slip Trail: British Ceramics Biennial Community Project for Middleport Matters and Appetite, Stoke-on-Trent
Gathering: British Ceramics Biennial Community Project Etruria Canals Festival, Stoke-on-Trent
RECLAIM: LGBT + Mental Health, 7-week reclaim project with Cultural Sisters and North Midlands LGBT Older Peoples Group
Pride Stoke-on-Trent: Viewing of RECLAIM: LGBT+ Mental Health, Stoke-on-Trent
2021 - British Ceramics Biennial: Journey Lines Coping Stones and Fern Bricks, Stoke-on-Trent
Editional Studio: Decarbonise your house now! Cladding and Reclaim, Manchester
2020 - Making Spaces, Clay works? British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent and Online
Pause Return Transform, Collaboration with Clay Comrades for Urban Wilderness, Stoke-on-Trent
2020 TIARA TANAH, West Java West Yorkshire Cooperative Movement, Jaitwangi and Leeds
Portland Inn Fellowship, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Beyond Measure, Leeds Cultural Institute, Online
Making Spaces, Clay works? British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent and Online
Clay Works? ABLE British Ceramics Biennial Health and Community Programme, Stoke-on-Trent
2019 Cultural Icons, Leading on community co-production with British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent
Clay Works? British Ceramics Biennial Health and Community Programme, Stoke-on-Trent
Production Line, Engagement space, British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent
Plates, Collaborative supper club, SiopShop, Manchester
Hepworth Wakefield Ceramics Fair, Wakefield
2018 Dulwich Open, London
2017 Dulwich Open, London
2014. W5 Gallery, London
2013 Living numbers, Fringe Arts Bath, Bath
2006 Petit Petitions, MuseumAfrica, Johannesburg
2005 Unravelled (performance), Ansister Creative Constellation Festival, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
2004 ABSA Atelier Awards, Johannesburg
Journey to Freedom, UNISA, Pretoria and Mississippi
Unravelled, UNISA, Pretoria
2003 Unplugged, UNISA, Potchefstroom
Residencies
2020 Real World Ceramics: Crafting Futures, West Java West Yorkshire Co-operative Movement
(Pavilion - Leeds and Jatiwangi art Factory - West Java)
Awards/Grants
2020 Emerging Genius Scholarship, Dr Wendy Gers, Ceramics Coach
Artists Emergency Fund, Arts Council England
2003 Finalist, ABSA L'Atelier - in conjunction with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts
(SANAVA).