In Balance

For Undergrowth, at County Hall Pottery Gallery I have returned to working kinetically, finding sculptural ways to breathe life into clay and animate it. In Balance is a reflection on the fragile equilibrium that fungi bring to the natural world. Funga’s vital role in decomposing organic matter and returning carbon to the cycle of life is under threat in the current climate crisis. This multi-media rotating piece places the ceramic elements in potential jeopardy relying on gravity and fulcrum points to keep the sculpted work aloft. A 1920’s revolving piano stool supports a rusting steel mast with a bowl at its apex, in which a cross-bar balances and pivots, in turn supporting ceramic forms. The ceramic elements are inspired by an extinct fungi, Potteromyces recently discovered in the Natural History Museum’s fossil collection by Dr Strullu-Derrien, and named after Beatrix Potter, who, though famous for her children’s books, was also a renown mycologist in her day. Playing with scale, a ceramic fossil of Potteromyces, teeters above a terracotta fungal spore, which is counterbalanced by a three dimensional version of the fungi.

Curated by Elizabeth Jackson and Emily Jefferis, Undergrowth runs at County Hall Pottery Gallery from 13th January – 8th March. Gallery open Tues – Sunday 11am – 6pm Closed 1 – 1:30pm

Photos by Elsa Pearl