Earth Becoming (with Jonathan Wade), 2025

Earth Becoming emerged from a residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation, where the clays and natural materials used in the work were gathered directly from the surrounding landscape. From the outset we approached the work as a collaboration with the material rather than an imposition of form. Wild clay behaves unpredictably — cracking, shrinking, and shifting as it dries and fires — and these transformations were allowed to remain visible within the finished pieces.

improvised moulds made from found timbers, grasses, and acorns provided a structural framework, allowing the clay to retain its surface and integrity while responding to the conditions of making. Gathering and testing materials from the land established a direct relationship to place. Walking the fields, observing the soils, and collecting clays became an integral part of the process — a way of learning from the landscape itself.

Installed across beds of granular unfired clay, the works extend this dialogue into space, forming a shifting terrain that reflects the ongoing relationship between land, material, and maker.

Fired and un-fired native clays from Marchmont Estate, Slighhouses Farm, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, reclaimed stonewareS on unfired clay aggregate
Dimensions variable

Installation view, earth matters, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh