Recently after a workshop in Hawaii my abstract landscapes became more influenced by volcanic craters. In my work I have handled this through the use of paper in the slip. After firing the slip becomes rough and dense with liquid color in the cracks. The images I deal with in the plate, bowl or vase form is fragmented and abstract. The craters become condensed and I try to express a very large image concept in the relatively small space of the pottery form.
The impact of the material clay on my ideas is important because of its plastic and tactile qualities. It helps me pull out the physical and gestural possibilities in my work. To get the full implications of gesture there is a need for three-dimensionality. The energy expressed in the flow of water in nature is an example of gesture. To contain this idea of landscape in bowl or vase requires an understanding of gesture. Personally it seems irrelevant to me to pursue the gestural with paint and canvas. For me the canvas is rigid and confining. I am not interested in creating an illusion of space. The clay form for me is a gesture, which carries color in the thickly applied slips. This is the means of my expression.
Susanne G. Stephenson