PROTEA BUDS, indigenous flowers, 2024

Molded pinch and columbine with mixed stoneware and porcelain. First firing at 980°C, second firing at 1220°C.

The manipulation of mixed clay bodies has been part of my practice for many years. I have been influenced by the traditional methods used by women potters in rural southern Africa, who have a long history of working with raw clay. I knead the clay bodies, letting them mix for a few days. Stoneware and porcelain require different temperatures, and this mixture gives the pots a unique design. My small pots are based on the indigenous flower-the Protea-which grows in the region where I grew up.