QUIETLY MADE

I have taken the language of an ancient vessel and reworked it in contemporary terms: metallic bronze glaze, cobalt blue accents and gold lustre sit alongside the tactile, modest materiality of clay and raffia. The double-sided body and the small shared aperture create two simultaneous views: one side reserved and unadorned, where the nest alone interrupts the surface; the other exuberant with a cobalt field from which radiating gold lines converge toward that same fragile interior. The three finches, busy with pieces of raffia, are the visible labor of making — a quiet choreography of care.

Quietly Made insists that craftsmanship is not merely technique - it is rooted in ability, aptitude and a set of values enacted over time: restraint and ornament; visible labor and hidden structure; heritage and reinterpretation. By splitting the vessel into contrasting faces I ask the viewer to shift perspective — to see the plain as intentional, the ornate as devotional, the tiny nest as the locus of worth. The piece honours the skilled hands that shape form and the small daily labours that sustain life. Value is not declared; it is revealed by the perspective we embrace and how closely we look.

W35 x H39 x D11cm