tree trunk vessels
a whisper caught in the breeze…what are the trees saying to each other? Every tree trunk vessel I make speaks to the precious time I have spent connecting with trees in a woodland/
I’m curious about the relationship between trees, how they form communities and support each other through the hidden mycelium network underground/
Peter Wohlleben, in his book ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’, describes how a family of trees will still nourish the stump of a felled parent tree (through the underground network), out of respect and ‘love’. Trees hold so much wisdom and learning for us – my belief is that they act as beacons of light in our world and are custodians for our planet/
each tree trunk vessel is made from several constituent parts, thrown as separate cylinders on the Potter’s Wheel and then blended together creating a column. I enjoy the unpredictability when fusing sections, welcoming off-centred alignment, listening to how the clay wants to bend and move, and honouring the tender connection I previously made in the woodland with each tree/
specific bark textures are replicated using layers of wild clay slips, oxides and glaze. Embodying the spirit of the tree is essential in this process, so I allow my ‘self’ to step aside and surrender to the intuitive flow of remembered sensations. I scratch into the surface, re-apply slip, blend, sweep more sticky slip across the surface, hold, bend, cut, scrape…it’s an interplay of many dimensions in time, past memory, present knowing/
finally, the inner space of each vessel is covered with a water tight glaze for functional use; not only is this practical, it’s also a reflective surface from which light energy can reflect upwards and outwards, acting like a ‘beacon’/
each tree trunk vessel is attuned with Reiki (universal life force energy) to raise it’s resonant frequency and then marked with my signature ‘S’ on the base/
tree trunk vessels
A whisper caught in the breeze… what are the trees saying to each other?
Every tree trunk vessel I make speaks to the precious time I have spent connecting with trees in woodland. I am fascinated by the relationships between trees; how they form communities, respond to one another and are connected through the largely unseen networks beneath the forest floor /
In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben writes movingly about the relationships within tree communities, including instances where neighbouring trees continue to sustain the living stump of a felled tree through their interconnected root systems. He invites us to consider ideas of kinship, care and continuity within the forest. Trees hold so much wisdom and learning for us; to me, they are beacons of light in our world and custodians of the living planet /
Each tree trunk vessel is formed from several constituent parts, thrown as separate cylinders on the potter’s wheel before being joined to create a single column. I enjoy the unpredictability of this process, welcoming off-centred alignment and listening to how the clay wants to bend and move, while honouring the connection I previously made with the tree in the woodland /
Specific bark textures are built through layers of wild clay slips, oxides and glaze. Embodying something of the spirit of the tree is essential to this process, so I allow my ‘self’ to step aside and surrender to an intuitive flow of remembered sensations. I scratch into the surface, re-apply slip, blend, sweep, hold, bend, cut and scrape… an interplay between material, memory and the present moment /
Finally, the inner space of each vessel is finished with a watertight glaze, allowing the work to hold water and flowers if desired. Beyond its practical purpose, I love the way this reflective surface catches light and sends it upwards and outwards from within the vessel; another small expression of the tree as a beacon /
Each tree trunk vessel is attuned with Reiki (universal life force energy) as the final part of my making process, before being marked with my signature ‘S’ on the base /
