KATHERINE WHEELER
Artist Statement
I combine imagery from the natural world with forms of everyday domestic objects to create a synthetic organism, or, my own version of nature.
The aesthetic of my work compiles reference from marine life, the body, childhood memories of life and death within influential natural locations, and learned forms from the history of my medium and techniques.
My method of designing and making jewellery, hollow ware and object is spontaneous. I like my work to retain the energy of a quick sketch, which can often be lost during the process of making.
I embrace the material and process I am working with, often letting the progression of making take over, and dictate the character of the piece.
I enjoy forming raw materials into a new and unique structure, and appreciate the complexity the residual evidence the act of hand making leaves on my work.
Colour and texture are used to generate a surface illusion, camouflaging the weight and material of the structure beneath. The materials become irrelevant, used only as part of the making language used to create and reveal the form.