I started as a painter, moving into abstract work as teaching opened the development of my art practice. But in 2010 I took a distinct turn in my practice when some profound experiences through Tantra opened up some extraordinary adventures in the mystical world of deep spiritual experience.
It was through Tantra I met Lance Eggleton. Having used painting, digital, sound, installation and poetry as the medium to take this interest forward in my art practice, I found myself drawn towards ceramic and glass as a medium, and I have since mainly focussed on porcelain and other translucent ceramic, and white clays.
Why I changed media, requiring much more financial investment, is not entirely clear, but then on spiritual journeys you find yourself working differently, intuitively, in the flow, sometimes with the sense of guidance. With that early ceramic work I found myself exploring organic tactile forms, people often responding to work by picking pieces up and caressing them.
I found three dimensional inspiration from symbols when I was with others doing Tantra, and found collaborative spiritual inspiration. My strong experiences of compassion and unconditional love at the time drew me towards making unusual “love inspired” tableware as a strong universal metaphor, sharing food, for peace in this. Add to this momentum inspirational contemporary art which embraces the sharing of food. However, a bit bogged down in the traditional focus of studio pottery of tableware and it has for now taken a back seat as new conceptual work has bubbled up. I have since moved on to more sculptural work to satisfy the deeper experiential aspects of art for the viewer, trying to make work which brings out the intense and deep experiences to be had from art and in life.
As I have experienced that mystical understanding of what connects you in deep and profound ways with other people, I started to read the world through different levels of consciousness, beyond the senses. Practices of artistic observation and associated iteration have lost their excitement now, and are practiced better by more diligent artists than I. So I use where possible those deeper human intuitive faculties that read under the surface of things. My visual flat paintings increasingly left a gap between the intention of the work and the reality of senses taking it in, and clay has taken over.
Quite why ceramic media should take me forward I am not entirely sure why, but working creatively with Lance on sound in the Earthwaves Partnership and light has just opened up a treasure of ideas which take work forward into new experiential realms. The relationship between the crystalline earth, minerals, molecules, hard atoms holding their form from pure energy and the energetic responsiveness of the crystalline form with waves, whether sound light or other sensually perceived energy now becomes the pallet to work with. It is truly an alchemical pallet with new spiritual possibilities. We are just vibrating like sound and other energies, even our seemingly solid world is just vibration.