Artist's statement

I am interested in themes of nature, of journey and passage of the life of the spirit. I explore these themes in large installations. Technically, I work predominately with smoke firing and black firing techniques and more recently with unglazed porcelain. I am particularly interested in the grouping and repetition of multiple forms and patterning and sometimes incorporating other materials such as glass, wire and tiny lights.

The landscape surrounding Canberra is a strong influence in my recent work. It is a landscape both persistent and fragile, subject to the ravages of fire and drought, destruction and renewal, and is yet suffused with subtle beauty.

Smokescreen, a large installation shown at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, explored these interests. The work consisted of many tall, thin cylinders, some smoke-fired, some black-fired, others perforated, unglazed porcelain. Suspended above a white pebble veisca pices shape on the ground, they created a floating forest, reminiscent of ghost gums, scribbly bark and other 'iconic' Australian flora. Their densely patterned and textured surfaces in places suggested the marks of insects or the skins of animals. The assembled forms recalled the hollowed trees and fire-blackened traces of the devastating Canberra bushfires, as well as delicate twinkling of the night sky.