Angela Bowen
The inspiration for my work come from a fusion of African and Japanese forms. I like to use crank, grog and sgraffito to emphasise texture and pattern and enjoy experimenting with oxides and slips at each stage. Some pots incorporate porcelain patterning. Building solely by hand gives me the satisfaction of creating shapes that ‘grow’. Their evolution never being certain, I often wonder at the pot’s final form and find the surprise a pleasure worth the risks of free and unplanned creativity.
The serendipity of design results in both functional and decorative pots. The former I like to put to use by holding crafted or ethnic wooden tools like spoons, tongs and ladles. The latter emerge as Japanese ‘lucky shaker pots’ or bowls, lidded jars and jugs which I like to present alone or in combination with driftwood or dried seed heads. I also like to incorporate natural stones, agates, crystals and flints in display.