I took a couple of cups home from the show
to try to document the drawings that go all the way around the cups; the forest and the flats were so enticing, however, that I stopped on the way back and photographed them there. I like that the earth brings out the brown of the slip I used – which is just raw clay painted on raw clay to start with.
The cups are slip cast from a thrown cup; one tapers in and one flares out so they make a couple. I was going to make more obvious “couple” pairings but got so diverted by the mark-making process I departed from that idea. I used the same shape in the other series, but in this one I make random marks with coloured slip inside the mold, then pour in the casting slip. Once it’s bisq fired, I use an underglaze pencil to bring to life the images the random marks suggest.
I love that it is so random, like a Rorschach test but also like finding the future in tea leaves or coffee grounds. I don’t think I’ve found anything too alarming in my subconscious so far, but there’s a lot of animals and people, flying, swimming, morphing and possibly communicating with each other…
Siobhan Davies 