SACRIFICIAL STONE SERIES 2

(2020- Present) ‘Sacrificial Stone Series 2’ centres on the research of Alfred Watkins, a Herefordian naturalist from the early 1900’s. The title ‘Sacrificial Stone’ came from one of Watkins’ maps. Verity was intrigued by this atmospheric, mysterious place name which to her evokes a sense of the surreal, stone like, obscured and encaged. Verity has since been using clay to explore the images and feelings that she associates with these words.

The surfaces on these works have been achieved by monoprinting coloured slips onto slabs of clay. The colour and placement of this surface decoration takes inspiration from the colouration of rocks, as well as lichen and mosses growing on them.

Verity evokes a feeling of her forms being obscured and encaged by layering up monoprints using manmade meshes. Verity is interested in the juxtaposition between the natural form of her pieces and this manmade surface decoration. This adds to the surreal atmosphere surrounding the work and results in the pieces having a sense of belonging but also being placeless.

Verity cuts up slabs of clay and collages them together to create stone like forms, employing a ‘Thinking through Making’ approach. When slab building, Verity accentuates the joins between the slabs to celebrate her processes and reference the natural facets and angles found on rocks.

Verity is interested in the viewer bringing their own personal narrative to the work much like how Verity started this series, bringing her own thoughts and ideas to the title ‘Sacrificial Stone’.

These works range in height from 12cm - 40cm. Medium: black or white stoneware clay, coloured slips and underglaze. All photos courtesy of Dan Barker Studios.

A selection of these pieces are available to purchase directly from Verity’s studio. Please CONTACT Verity if you require further details about the works.