Black and white sculptures

These are my latest sculptures, created with paper clay, stoneware clay, paper collage, kiln wire, and drawing pins. The stoneware clay has to be fired above 1200 degrees for it to turn black. This is the culmination of several months work - the process of creating and firing the clay pieces has taken the longest, so I decided to make several paper collages from my own drawings - this process being more spontaneous and perhaps more exciting, as you can draw and collge in an instant.

The pieces are very personal to me and aim to explore mental illness. Each sculpture will be allocated an A4 collage - these reminded me off old fashioned paper documents that lay on clipboards at the end of a hospital bed, mostly for people who are seen to be suffering from a 'physical' illness. By linking the head to the collage I aim to remind people that the brain is not a seperate entity!