A clock inspired by Salvador Dali’s images of clocks, elephants and rocks, this hand built ceramic clock is warped but works.
Dali Inspired Clock, ceramic
While a friend was making a wooden clock, I thought about Salvador Dali’s famous images of melting clocks and wondered if it would be physically possible to make a clock that was warped like that but also worked and kept time. Making the face and supporting pillars was relatively straightforward, but I made the section for the clock mechanism too thick and this required a lot of time to carve away excess material and get the mechanism and hands to fit.
Dali Inspired Clock (during construction)
This work is entered in the Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club’s Clay Fever exhibition, on at the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum from 30 Oct – 30 Nov 2025.
This hand crafted ceramic is coil and slab built and features a removable tray glazed with a dragon’s eye and could be used for storing jewellery, change or any other treasure. The dragon’s hoard is glazed with various underglazes and a clear glaze and the tray has a vinyl leather pads on the feet and tag to help lift it out.
This work is entered in the Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club’s Clay Fever exhibition on at the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum from 30 Oct – 30 Nov 2025.
It might have squawked. I can’t remember. But as the gull alights from the heavy beams on the pier, with open wings and a raised foot, it gives a slight impression of the scene from the historic painting,The Scream, by Edvard Munch.
Gull on New Brighton Pier is an experiment with iridescent acrylic paint, capturing an image of a gull in motion. There is an illusion of movement as the painting is viewed from different angles and reflects the light.
Gull on New Brighton Pier, Acrylic, approx 50 x 35 cm
This work is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 61st Annual Exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 7 July to 1 August 2025.
This old piano was begging to be photographed. And so I took its picture. The piano had been outside for quite a while, but I believe it had aged a lot before then. It has since moved on. Reminiscent of my Sofa Safari series of out-of-place living room furniture, perhaps this piano is now roaming freely somewhere.
Old Piano, photograph (20.32 x 25.40 cm)
This work is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 61st Annual Exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 7 July to 1 August 2025.
Who is pulling the strings in this embroidery triptych?
I don’t have a cat. I do not own a cat, and no cats own me. A cat playing with a ball of string tangled around a puppeteer’s hand that is pulling the strings on a cat marionette
Pulling Strings (Triptych), Embroidery approx 10cm x 45cm
The idea for this work came from thinknkng about how cat people think they have control of their pets, but who is really pulling the strings? Has the cat trained their owner/slave tofeed them abd provide toys fir then to play with? Who is the toy and who is being toyed with? You might see the Cat’s Cradle string game in the art.
This work is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 61st Annual Exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery, from 7 July to 1 August 2025.
The Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Group’s annual exhibition, ‘All Fired Up’ is currently on at the ASA Short St Studio and I have five pieces in the exhibition.
Awards were given for hand and wheel categories for Novice – 0-3 years, Intermediate – 3-6 years and Open – 6 plus years experience. I received a runner-up award for my Blue Drip Bowl, a piece that I had thrown on the wheel. I find wheel work very challenging and so I was very pleased with this result.
Blue Drip Bowl, wheel thrown ceramic
I was not totally happy with the result of the first glaze firing of this bowl, so I used a rotary tool to remove the glaze I was not happy with. I then touched up the glaze and refired it.
Likewise, I did the same with these two vases. The original mandarin glaze on the inside of the vases was too weak and so these were reglazed with red.
All three of these vessels were still in the kiln when I left for a holiday two weeks before the exhibition opened so I am glad they all survived the extra firing and came out well.
Tall Red & Brown Vase, hand built ceramicShort Red & Brown Vase, hand built ceramic
My experiments with extruding clay through a cookie press led me to create these squid figures.
Squid with Big Yellow Eyes and Squid with Small Eyes, hand built ceramics
This work is being exhibited in Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Group’s 2024 All Fired Up Exhibition at the Ashburton Society of Arts Short St Studio, 53 Short St, Ashburton from 12-26 October 2024. Open daily 10am-3pm.
A stone carving of tarāpuka, the black-billed gull. This endangered bird was one of many that nested near the Ashburton Bridge during the summer of 2023-24. On Christmas Day, I photographed one of the birds and then later created some lino-cut prints. And then from the lino-cut print, created the stone carving.
I made one print onto some reclaimed Oamaru stone and then using that image, carved this sculpture of the gull out of the stone.
Have you seen this bird too?, Oamaru stone
I thought an alternative name for this sculpture could be Jonathan Limestone Seagull, but this species of gull does not appear to spend much time at sea. It prefers to nest on the braided rivers, but if there is a danger of flooding, they have been known to rest on farmland instead.
Have you seen this bird too?, Oamaru stone
Have you seen this bird too?, Oamaru stone during the carving process
A collection of lino-cut prints of tarāpuka, the black-billed gull. Printed on different colored papers and assembled like an Andy Warhol inspired poster, the work has a handmade driftwood frame to give the birds a home amongst the river debris.
Have you seen this bird, original lino printing block
The tarāpuka (black-billed gull) that featured in the photograph, Have you seen this bird? is repeated here in linocut prints. A reflected silhouette of the photograph was transferred to an offcut of lino and then carved. The resulting linocut was then printed with blue and white inks on a range of colored papers. Finally the resulting images were pasted to a board as if they had been put up on a billboard on the street to advertise an upcoming event. The handmade driftwood frame completes the work and gives the birds a home.
Lino cut for Have You Seen These Birds? and Have You Seen This Bird Too?
On Christmas Day 2023, I captured several photographs of these birds. It was a challenge to get a good shot. The nesting area was fenced off to protect the birds and they were very energetic.
I’ve mounted two prints of the photograph on the sides of a piece of reclaimed post to give the impression of a lost pet notice.
Have you seen this bird?, photograph mounted on reclaimed wooden post, approx 150 x 150 x 400 mm.
I have made other works based on this photograph. A collection of lino-cut prints, “Have you seen these birds?” and a stone carving “Have you seen this bird too?”.
For several millennia, flat earthers have been without strong support for their worldview and now, finally Flatlas is here. The figure of Flatlas, a mythical cousin of Atlas, kneels on an orb and balances a flat earth map above his head.
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Inspired by art history and ancient myths and legends, Flatlas, is constructed from air dried clay, painted with fake copper paint. Balanced precariously above his head is a hand etched and weathered real copper engraving of a world map. Flatlas is supported by a reclaimed wooden post and he sinks into a turned globe giving an inversion of the traditional Atlas sculpture.
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Flatlas is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts 60th Annual Exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery from 1-26 July 2024.
