From the window of the kitchen I could see a yellow scar on the hillside opposite, I took my bicycle and went to investigate. It was a small quarry where yellow earth had been extracted to make pots, or to mix with rice straw for the walls of local houses. I gathered some of this earth, dried and sieved it and mixed it with water to make a liquid slip, I made 3 more coloured slips from other local clays and then used these to draw on the windows of the gallery. Gravity caused the viscous liquid to flow downwards in long lines and pulled one colour through the next. I enjoyed the way that the slips, as they collided, chose either to separate or to mingle together, painting graphic paths as they dried.

Behind this vertical earth screen I installed a horizontal series of sculptures made using the same stoneware clays but transformed by fire. I subjected large slabs (often impressed with parallel lines) to physical forces initiated by my body - folding, rolling, pushing or twisting, until other energies beneath the surface began to emerge.

shigaraki mix

residency at shiraraki ceramic culture park, japan

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photos : jane norbury

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