Ken Eastman MRSS

A large part of the reason for making is to see things which I have never seen before, to build something which I cannot fully understand or explain. Working with medium of ceramics, I can be both builder and painter; can handle shape and structure, as well as explore tone and colour. Much of my working is to try and find a way to think about the world and my experience of it, to sort things out for a brief period of time- to make sense of things- to give then an order and a shape. I go to the studio to explore, to ask questions rather than to find answers. Working with the soft slabs of clay is instinctive and spontaneous, yet I also want the work to have a sense of considered intention. Once the piece has begun to take shape, I start to paint on its surface -to define or sometimes change its sense of form.  It is a way of discovering and understanding what I am making.  What is painted on the surface of clay will alter our perception of the underlying form.  It is this dialogue and interaction between form and surface, two and three dimensions which is at the heart of my work.