iceland - land of fire and ice
since first visiting and working in iceland in 2006 i have fallen in love with both the country and it’s people. for me it is one of the most beautiful places in the world - so full of nature at its very best. stark contrasts and geological extremes can be seen everywhere, like those between the volcanic and glacial terrains and the dark of winter with the light of summer.
iceland is home to a seismic landscape - active volcanoes, spouting geysers, thermal springs and frequent earthquakes. while above ground the landscape continues to change with the shifting ice of glaciers, spectacular waterfalls and icebergs strewn along black beaches. so many natural wonders - and this is before you look up to the stars, with a vista of light from the aurora borealis dancing in the sky - as I said I have fallen deeply…….
iceland - reynisfjara, the black beach
situated approximately 112 miles south of reykjavik, reynisfjara is famous for its black, basalt sand beach and also the reynisdrangar sea stacks, that legend says, originated when two trolls dragged a three-masted ship to land unsuccessfully. when daylight broke they became needles of rock….
while on a road trip from reykjavik to jökulsárlón, the glacial lake where glacier breiðamerkurjökull sends icebergs out into the atlantic ocean, we stopped at vik a small village at the southern end of Iceland. it was then that we discovered the black beach at reynisfjara. not only a place of natural beauty but of great legend, and it is this idea of the telling of histories and stories that I feel is so fundamental to this work, my own icelandic sagas.
as i handle and add the gathered materials and feel them through the soft texture of the clay, i am filled with memory. the smell, taste and sound of the ocean as it’s waves crashed against the basalt beach, the sea stacks standing on the horizon and how small and humble i felt in the presence of such nature. through the physicality of touch, i am re-connected to the place, sometimes losing myself in that moment of making.
iceland - eyjafjallajökul
in 2010 when the volcano erupted i was working in china and waiting for my icelandic friend to join me. the trip from reykyavik to shangyeng, in the northeast of china, took her around the world for some sixty plus hours - at times we lost touch with her all together. finally when she did arrive, drowning in jet lag she had nothing bad to say and only the deepest of respect for the volcano that had caused her mammoth journey.
it is not only iceland’s landscapes that interest me but the Icelanders themselves. their own relationship and connectedness to this landscape, the fire and ice that runs in their veins. I am often sent materials by my icelandic friends - this included some black sands from the grotta – seltjarnarnes region and also some bottles of volcanic ash that were retrieved from the eruption of the eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010.
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the bottle’s label advises that the ash and lava ‘should be looked at once a month to refresh memories from iceland’. this simple gesture demonstrates just how connected icelanders are to the land and nature that surrounds them. i have used both the sands and the ash within compositional, still life work and one-off forms.
these three images of piece called ‘icelandic gatherings’. it is a number of porcelain vessels standing on a plinth of black heavily grogged stoneware. the individual porcelain vessels have had materials added to them, i have used black sands from reynisfjara beach and ash and lava from the eyjafjallajökull volcano.
i wanted to portray my own understanding of iceland and its islanders, how people can be perceived as being different but at their core they have a fundamental connection to a place, to this island and its nature.
as the material is limited and precious i wanted to keep the scale of the individual pieces small, but when bought together give strength and meaning to the composition.
