ARTISTS TALKING

Craft skills are important in my work and I am happy to learn new processes, or employ a problem-solving approach to achieve required results.

I am inspired by the soft organic shapes found in nature, and the elegant logic of industrial design, and I like the idea that the way we experience form can be meaningful even if we do not fully understand why.

The immediacy of fashioning clay into a figure is in stark contrast to my often lengthy design-based work, yet both allow a hands-on approach which is deliciously low-tech, and affords me complete control.

The studio environment can be quite solitary and so it is essential for me to maintain contact with other artists and makers. To mark the end of a recent two-year residency at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berkshire, I organised a two-day conference that centred on studio practice and how the skills picked up through this can be applied to publicly commissioned work. Events like this are a great opportunity to find out about other approaches to contemporary practice.

I am currently working on a public art commission for Bracknell Forest Borough Council arranged by the Oxford-based Artpoint Trust. My proposal was to design a sculptural centrepiece and ten benches which would be placed in Bracknell town centre. I have used two bench designs: the low wide (pictured here) allows sitting on either side; the other has a high back. The sculptural centrepiece is an egg-shaped form that links the whole project. This oval aesthetic, and the material – terrazzo – that was used throughout, allows the work to be seen as a group of related objects.

At the end of this month, I have a trip to Berlin planned which will include research, establishing contact with artists, makers, and artist-led initiatives with a view to future collaboration.