View From The Pines

Artist: Jane Whitaker

Honourable Mention

Bird's Eye View From the Pines

8" x 5" x 3"

Handbuilt stoneware, oxidation

Patterdale Post Box

11" x 8.5" x 4.5"

Handbuilt stoneware with slate lid, oxidation

Artist Statement

I first encountered clay as a six year old living in Africa. I would dig up the dry red earth, add water, and make flat patties to dry in the sun. I would tell my mother I was "mixing my pots".

Sixty years later, I am mixing my pots again! I have rediscovered clay, the malleable medium with which I can express my lifelong love of animals, birds and plants, reflecting the colours and textures of nature.

The process my pots go through today is more sophisticated, but the joy creating with clay brings me now, is as fundamentally simple as it was then.