I am process driven. The journey of being a maker is as important to me as the destination. I employ simple forms and meditative motifs that have relevance to my own experience. My forms vary but are never irrelevant to me. Printing techniques and layering of imagery on my clay forms can create a sense of depth and richness of surface to tell a story or to create the illusion of there being one to tell. The viewer's interpretation is as valid as mine. I don't wish to dictate what they see, I want them to discover and enjoy their own response.
The nest, is a theme I revisit often in my work. To me, it alludes to being a metaphor for home, containment, family, familiarity, safety, frailty or vulnerability. A place to be, and, in which to grow, safely.
Often my work comes back to nature, trees, leaves, twigs, feathers, eggs and birds - I feel that this is because when I was growing up in a suburb on the outer edges of Dublin, Ireland, the view from my bedroom was one of trees and hedgerows. We enjoyed observing the patterns of bird life and their similarities to our own. Decades later in Australia a family of Willy Wagtails built a nest right outside the bedroom window just as I started my own family, the one in the header on my HOME page. It was a magical coincidence and it was then I began to realise that the shape and structure of a nest, its integrity or carelessness in formation had its own meaning and nuances which would seep into my psyche and work.
I throw, hand build, sculpt, slipcast and print my clay work according to what I feel the work needs. Mostly I work with porcelain. When not working in my studios I teach throwing, hand building, slip casting and decorating/printing etc. at various venues in Perth, Western Australia and its environs.
As I develop my website I will share some of the materials and methods of making I employ in my studio, particularly about print methods. You will find more information on my old blog if you care to trawl though it. http://elainebradley.blogspot.com.au
The nest, is a theme I revisit often in my work. To me, it alludes to being a metaphor for home, containment, family, familiarity, safety, frailty or vulnerability. A place to be, and, in which to grow, safely.
Often my work comes back to nature, trees, leaves, twigs, feathers, eggs and birds - I feel that this is because when I was growing up in a suburb on the outer edges of Dublin, Ireland, the view from my bedroom was one of trees and hedgerows. We enjoyed observing the patterns of bird life and their similarities to our own. Decades later in Australia a family of Willy Wagtails built a nest right outside the bedroom window just as I started my own family, the one in the header on my HOME page. It was a magical coincidence and it was then I began to realise that the shape and structure of a nest, its integrity or carelessness in formation had its own meaning and nuances which would seep into my psyche and work.
I throw, hand build, sculpt, slipcast and print my clay work according to what I feel the work needs. Mostly I work with porcelain. When not working in my studios I teach throwing, hand building, slip casting and decorating/printing etc. at various venues in Perth, Western Australia and its environs.
As I develop my website I will share some of the materials and methods of making I employ in my studio, particularly about print methods. You will find more information on my old blog if you care to trawl though it. http://elainebradley.blogspot.com.au