Claire Seneviratne Sawdust fired pots.
My work is thrown, coiled or slip-cast and can be a mixture of the three. It is then refined and burnished with a smooth piece of glass and partially glazed before the first electric kiln firing. The second firing fuses the gold lustre onto the glaze. The pieces are now ready for the pit- firing. I cover the pieces with sawdust and it slowly burns around them during the night. It is a long process and one pot takes several weeks to complete.
In each piece I strive to encapsulate the essence of that which moves us beyond our ordinary day to day lives. I am strongly inspired by landscape’s, the beauty of our planet and its place in the universe.
The textures and colours on my pots are reminiscent of natural objects such as rocks and shells found along the seashore. Sometimes an explosive selection of colour and markings remind me of the mystery of space and the forming of new stars and planets.
Music is an art form which moves our emotions through auditory means. My hope is to do this through visual form. I find that music and art are strongly related in that they both can transcend us to a higher emotional place. We even have similar ways of describing them such as; tonal scales, harmonies, composition, etc….
The form or shapes of my vessels also play a part in helping to provide the essence of beauty and harmony. The slowly changing curves and symmetry together with the ethereal surface markings combine to create a harmonious completion.
I also like to consider the relationship of the pots surface to its inside. The textural richness on the outside contrasts to the still quiet place on the inside. Perhaps the stillness is similar to a meditative state of mind or being ‘at one’ with the world.
www.claireceramics.co.uk