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Earthworks

An ongoing body of work that combines foraged and repurposed materials including clay, soil, and stone with techniques associated with vernacular earthen architecture in Wales and the wider UK to create sculptural objects that sit between art and craft. Making is preceded by research and fieldwork, often involving a detailed examination of geological maps and local industries, walking in the landscape and/or connecting with nearby ‘hole diggers’ like farmers and ground workers to divert the earth they have extracted.
Alongside mirroring the geological past in their material composition, pieces often reference geomorphic features on the Earth’s surface through abstracted marks, curves and hollows. Through these methodologies, the intention is to create work that embodies the deep histories of the ground beneath us and fosters a reciprocal existence with the more-than-human world. The aim of these works is encouraging reflection on the value we place on earthly matter and what role material circularity has in contemporary craft and the current ecological discourse.


Type: Collection
Location: North Wales
Date: 2023 - ongoing 
Materials: foraged clay (unfired), repurposed clay-rich soils, straw, sand, stone dust, beeswax, linseed oil

  
Earth Mound
2023
foraged Pen Llŷn clay (unfired), sand, straw, beeswax, linseed oil
H10cmxW21xL21cm
     Low-tech material tests of a local kaolinitic boulder clay that makes up the cliffs in Rhiw, laid down by glaciers moving from the Irish Sea which moved over (and entirely covered) Pen Llŷn around 18,000 years ago


     Wall Piece: Soil Petroglyph
2023
repurposed soil, foraged clay, repurposed sand, straw, repurposed stone dust, linseed oil
H4cmxW23cmxL22cm
Local boulder clay in its natural state in a cliffside on Pen Llŷn

    
Mynydd (Mountain)
2023
repurposed subsoil, foraged clay (unfired), repurposed sand, straw, linseed oil
H13cmxW14cmxL22cm

         Locally-foraged boulder clay, unfired and unprocessed
Material samples blending local Rhiw boulder clay with subsoil that was excavated from a nearby garden during groundwork.

Carved Bowl
2023
repurposed subsoil, foraged Pen Llŷn clay (unfired), repurposed sand, straw, linseed oil
H15xW15cm


     
Brynoedd (Hills)
2023
repurposed soil, foraged Pen Llŷn clay (unfired), repurposed sand, straw, linseed oil
W23cmxL23cmxH5cm
      
Earth Petrograph II
2023
foraged Pen Llŷn clay (unfired) sand, straw, stone, beeswax, linseed oil
L19xW17xH3cm