My ceramics practice is fundamentally craft-based. I consider the transformation of clay (as raw material), and all of the steps involved in this transformation (into ceramic), as part of the meaning imbued in the final work. I labor within the framework of David Pye’s Workmanship of Risk concept, in which “the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on the judgment, dexterity and care which the maker exercises as (s)he works”. The work has the potential to be lost, transformed, or mutated at each and every step of the way. This wonderfully long and often precarious process of transforming clay into a ceramic medium allows space for intent and ideas to incubate, develop, and blossom.
The conception and shaping of my material are intertwined, where I can think with my hands and where I am conscious of both the interior space and exterior form of a piece, with the universes of materiality, intent and thought. Without this, my practice would remain stagnant.
— Veronika Horlik
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