My lifelong fascination for the natural world has found its expression in my art, creating forms and images which communicate my appreciation of its beauty and the layers of potential experience, inviting the viewer to share my encounter.  Over the years I have chosen to make this journey using a variety of media, working with clay, bronze and photography, conveying my interpretations through visual representations.

As a child I was absorbed by the wildlife and plants that I encountered in my daily, rural existence.  I loved to place myself close up to the little world that normally falls beneath our gaze, engrossed by the blades of grass, the insects, the ants scurrying between.  Then there was the joy of planting seeds and watching them grow, flourishing and generating greater foliage, extra shoots.  The pleasure of intently watching this environment gave me profound pleasure, a meaningful understanding of our interaction with this world and our dependence on it – for we are nourished and supported in so many ways, aesthetically and practically.

My activity as a photographer enabled me to take my relationship with plant and animal life to deeper levels, using zoom lenses to see structures that cannot be seen with the naked eye.  Next the use of a macro- lens with extension tubes, and then a microscope with a digital camera revealed the macroworld of finely shaped architectural forms, the perfect design of organisms, without which we would not be alive.  The juxtaposition of the demands of the practical with the experience of pleasure - appealing, captivating, essential for survival – pollen grains which fertilise flowers, extending and continuing flowering species, feed the bees to make honey and take a multiplicity of inspirational patterns and designs.

Since then I have been exploring a three-dimensional creation of these images through ceramic process, seeking to construct their visual potency in shapes that are both delicate and yet invite interaction, moving in to look within.  The forms are made of such a size and shape that they could fit into the hand, from porcelain, a fine quality clay, so pure and fragile, just like the pollen grains.  They are fired to 1260° in the kiln until vitrified, interaction with oxides causes the irregular markings.

 

Georgina Hughes