First

Unfired burnished clay – hand held sculpture 3inches high

Where to begin? Fashioning a tiny figure out of unfired and burnished earth forges such an empathy with that object that it is almost like holding your child in your hand. The burnishing process is an intimate act, touch and reciprocated touch is very evident and the resultant embrace is a very protective and tender one. It was put to me that tiny figures such as these were buried in order to promote fertility for the crops, I replied that having made one of these I could not imagine anyone having the heart to bury it. There is a certain hierarchy at play when handling one of these figures, cupping one of them in your hand turns you into a god with the power to nurture or destroy. The sublime has, in my view, a lot to do with scale, either the immense or the miniature, and so holding the sublime in your hand is very special. I begin to see where votives gained their power in our hearts, how an object can become precious for us, how it can contain either a spirit or a worth or both. When exhibited I was astonished at the amount of viewers who wanted to have their photographs taken with this sculpture, or who wanted to hold her and who then immediately covered her with both of their hands. At some point I will explore this further!