Kerry Hastings

I call my work sketches from a landscape.  The colours and textures are reminiscent of pebbles, shells, rocks.  The forms too are echoes of these and in their rolling curves bring to mind the contours of hills and mountains.

I enjoy making asymmetrical vessels which have a sense of movement and a poised balance.  I see my work as being also about juxtapositions and contrasts; between the narrow foot and the undulating rim, the smooth glazed interior and the stone-like texture of the exterior and between the sculptural and the functional.  Due to the technique I use, which does not involve either machine or mould each piece is one-off original and, although thematically similar, is definitive in its' own right.

I use a stoneware clay called 'S' Material which I colour by slaking down and adding varying percentages of oxides and stains.  I coil onto a pinched base, defining and refining the form once leatherhard by much scraping using a metal tool.  After a bisque firing, I sand the pots using an electric sander.  I use a contrasting colour glaze internally to compliment the coloured clay body.