Jo Northedge

During lockdown and creating in a home setting, she was forced to consider her surroundings and what materials she could use to make with. She explored tools and food, not for their utility, but rather for their aesthetic quality. Using a variety of objects from her home and local walks she created surface patterns using a burnout technique.

“I used everyday items such as food and found objects (seeds, grasses, flower heads, leaves etc) from walks to dip them in the paper clay and then burn out during firing to leave behind shapes that made up the surface pattern. In this process, the items are almost like mini moulds which burn away to leave a clay shell of their form. It was this process that helped me to consider my surroundings from a new perspective and start to see the beauty in things that had become mundane or I hadn’t even really looked at for their aesthetic qualities before. This was a positive aspect especially after being in the flat by myself for a long time during lockdown and doing the same walks day after day your surroundings can become really tedious. The process itself was also a slow but quite meditative one – dipping thousands of pieces of grains in paper clay with tweezers was surprisingly relaxing! This also helped to combat some of the general anxiety and boredom of lockdown.”