Artist’s Statement

I want my work to reveal the qualities of the material and the transformative process; both the clay’s original wet soft malleable state and the transforming action of the fire, or the paper’s light- filtering qualities and the ink’s determination.  I maintain an awareness of the earth/clay/body link: our relationship to the elements, the seasons, the action of time, the landscape. I like to examine how the light shows through.

In my work text is of the essence: I use lettering as an architectural framework for the design, both mapping device, and entry to the volume enclosed.  The marks on the surface lead the eye to the inner space contained (not only within the vessel form but also implicitly or metaphorically within the planes of wall panels or the layered light-bearing textures of paperworks).  Setting a text or poem in this way gives both an immediate visual apprehension, and a slower, more contemplative reading which can lead to an enhanced awareness of the text and its relation to the form.  I liken this process to that of setting poetry to music, with the same implication of translation and reinterpretation, and the same kind of engagement of text to form.  

When working in clay I use white stoneware, throwing on the wheel or handbuilding; I often combine reclaimed or found materials (such as driftwood from the Thames) with the clay, in constructions like banners and panels.  I sometimes use paperclay and I also work with hand-made recycled cotton rag paper (khadi), which in its turn has qualities closely related to the clay – with this I make artist’s books, contemporary illuminated manuscripts and paperworks, which also have formal references to my work in clay. 

I like to include chance elements contributed by the firing, or by the quirks of found materials, as well as the inevitable changes and patina contributed by time, and I like to allow themes to emerge in a sequence of related works, rather than prescribe too much. 

I decorate with underglaze oxides onto the raw dried clay with a brush, freehand.  I sometimes use 9ct gold lustres, and some pots and panels are glazed with a clear feldspar glaze. I fire the clay to 1255° with green electricity.  When working with found materials and handmade paper I paint with watercolour and acrylics combined with natural pigments and raw materials – charcoal, beeswax, salt, sand, driftwood, linen, ink – and I use random mark-making tools – wooden peg, clay shard, slate fragment, flint, feather, driftwood pen.

Liz Mathews   Potters’ Yard   London 2010