Photography by S. Deleu
 
Details
Glazed porcelain
24 x 24 x 24 cm
 
 
About Emma Marks
"I am an explorative maker. I have been developing my own hand-building techniques to create emotive, tactile ceramic forms. Starting with the idea of the space that a vessel or container allows, I intuitively build up repetitive actions with clay that develop into texture and ultimately sculptural vessel-like forms. Sometimes these forms grow freely within the limits of gravity and other times I work into a mould or architectural space. I then make my own slips and glazes to accentuate the traces of these sensual encounters."
 
"I enjoy the intimacy and exploration of working with clay like this. I am building intimate knowledge through repetition whilst accumulating gestures in clay. The resulting forms are glazed and fired to acknowledge these reciprocal acts. Each work title refers to a time or place or ideas I was exploring at the time of making."
 
"I grew up on the Pembrokeshire coast before going to boarding school aged 10 when my parents moved away to live in Saudi Arabia. I now live and work in London. I have two grown up daughters and I have degrees in Physiology and Sculpture as well as an MA in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art. I have taken part in selected exhibitions and teach Ceramics in adult and higher education."
 
 
Artist Q&A
What first drew you to your current process?
E: My ceramic pieces are the outcomes of a deep curiosity into new ways of understanding the physical and tacit relationship between maker and matter, human and thing.
 
What are you thinking about when you start making each piece?
E: I am an explorative maker.  I have been developing my own hand-building techniques to create emotive, tactile ceramic forms.  Starting with the idea of the space that a vessel or container allows, I intuitively build up repetitive actions with clay that develop into texture and ultimately sculptural vessel-like forms.  Sometimes these forms grow freely within the limits of gravity and other times I work into a mould or architectural space.  I then make my own slips and glazes to accentuate the traces of these sensual encounters.  
 
I enjoy the intimacy and exploration of working with clay like this.  I am building intimate knowledge through repetitive sensual encounters whilst accumulating gestures in clay.  The resulting forms are glazed and fired to acknowledge these reciprocal acts.  
 
What are your biggest influences?
E: I love this quote by Octavia Butler in “Parable of the Sower”, 1993, p2.
“All that you touch You Change.
All that you Change Changes you...”