As a child, I used to draw and paint all the time; Art was my favourite subject at school, but an academic curriculum, and pressures of work relegated it for many years. I continued to make things- pottery, clothes, models and stuff with the kids, whenever I could fit it in; and over the years I went to jewellery and pottery evening classes, and expressed my ideas through photography- it's very difficult to separate me from my camera! I even retrained to teach Craft, Design Technology, learning formal technical drawing skills and the techniques of woodworking: making dovetails, planing and finishing.
Mike had done rather well at pottery classes, finding in clay a medium which sat easy in his hands. He developed his own idiom, producing many coil pots with strong shapes and a pleasing rhythm to their surface. Usually, a face grows out of the surface. He says that he sees it and simply releases it. Many of these pots now act as threshold guardians beside paths in the garden. We are in the process of turning the garage into a workshop where I can make jewellery and Mike can thump clay around.
Mike had done rather well at pottery classes, finding in clay a medium which sat easy in his hands. He developed his own idiom, producing many coil pots with strong shapes and a pleasing rhythm to their surface. Usually, a face grows out of the surface. He says that he sees it and simply releases it. Many of these pots now act as threshold guardians beside paths in the garden. We are in the process of turning the garage into a workshop where I can make jewellery and Mike can thump clay around.
