Module 1

I experimented with hand building techniques such as Coil Building, Slab Building and Hollow Forms during Module 1. My resolved work is a duo of coil built vessels about processing and resolving trauma. The first, Comfort Zone: The Void (2024) is a short Etruscan-inspired vase made from coils and is about emotional emptiness, where absence is unsettling but familiar; comfortable.

Comfort Zone: The Void (2024)

The second, Internal (2024) is a larger Etruscan-inspired vessel with a screaming figure kneeling inside, looking skyward. Its form takes influence from Alberto Giacometti’s mid-century sculpted figures.This work is about surfacing pain and vulnerability experienced along the journey toward healing and is inspired by guided breathwork for trauma resolution. By looking down and seeing the figure, the viewer becomes the voyeur, and the witness to a private moment.

Internal (2024)

Internal (2024) [detail]

Together, these works reflect of the notion of emotional suppression and avoidance over vulnerability.

Module 2

Module 2 is a series of slip cast forms made from a single piece mould. Following my experiences with manipulating the breath for trauma release, and using a CPAP machine for sleep apnoea for the first time, I decided to create a lung shape mould. I was inspired by the impact that breathing can have on our health and wellbeing, how it affects our every day lives, quality of sleep, and how we store or release emotion in the body.

My resolved work, Life Force (2024) invites contemplation around the way our breath influences life quality.

Life Force (2024)

Module 3

Module 3 was about glazing and decorative elements for finishing our work. We created test tiles on various clay bodies using underglazes and glazes to inform our choices.

I decorated this hollow-form work, Scream (2024) with Mayco glazes. The iron speckle of Mayco Amaryllis was layered underneath other colours to unify the work, while contrasting with Mayco Coral Red used on the tongue.

Scream (2024)

I used a combination of Deco underglazes and Mayco glazes to decorate Untitled [Church] (2024). The test tiles were very useful in the percolation process. I diluted underglaze colours to layer them and imply a brickwork pattern. I chose Mayco ‘Riptide’ to emulate the copper spire. I used Mayco Brown Gloss and Mayco Antique Bronze for the roof and trims. I am happy with the combination of gloss vs matte finish in this piece.

Untitled [Church] (2024)

Expanding my concept of breath and quality of life, I created a set of masks, and finished them with Mayco glazes. I chose a matte pink glaze for the faces to contrast with glossy Red Coral mask. These faces were also inspired by the way Alberto Giacometti used his mediums as expressive tools.

Breathing Apparatus (2024)

As an extension of my concept of tension and surfacing emotions (Module 1 works) I created another coil built bowl and decorated it with contrasting glazes. Metamorphosis (2024) is about the melding and redistribution of energy in trauma resolution. I chose the melting crystal effect of the glaze to create a sensation of shifting and flowing.

Metamorphisis (2024)

Module 4

For Module 4, I have created a body of work involving both Ceramics and Painting. I wanted to return to wheel throwing, to keep my practice up, and decorate inspired by the approach of Yuko Nishikawa. Nishikawa uses translucent clay bodies and interior lighting to feature the texture of her surfaces. This got me thinking how I could begin using porcelain for it’s translucency in interesting ways.

My Module 4 painting, Nirvana (2024) has taken influence from Australian artist Elisabeth Cummings, and I decided to extend on this by using carving tools to modify the surfaces of my wheel thrown works, Resonance I, Resonance II and Resonance III, using similar visual language as the marks in my painting. Conceptually, Nirvana is about a spiritual awakening where the subject becomes unified with her landscape. These carved vessels are an extension of this, where the vessels become unified also.

Resonance I, II and III (2024)

Additionally, I used underglazes to apply similar marks and colours as Nirvana, based on my test tile exercise, to decorate three plates, Vibration I, Vibration II and Vibration III. This ties the work together and completes the overall concept of Nirvana – of spiritual awakening, ascension and total unity.

Vibration I,Vibration II and Vibration III.

Below is the Module 4 painting Nirvana that is a part of the collective body of work.

Nirvana (2024)