“At times the clay moves so effortlessly that my hands seem to follow, not to initiate, the movements of the clay. I notice an emotion in my hands that seems to connect them with my chest…” 

Harry Remde from The Art in a Craft, 1975

Over the last few years of my 30-year relationship with clay, I have been going through the process of leaving behind the ingrained suggestion of ‘functional pottery’. I have slowly learned to let the clay behave as it intrinsically wants to, without a preconceived idea of what is being built; letting go of the struggle and partnering with the clay.

As with the expressionist style of painting and drawing, the clay form and surface evoke a nonverbal communication, cueing their own gestural prompts; speaking their own language.