The Folded Line - Ceramic Forms

The Folded Line is a highly textured ceramic sculpture, finished in a striking dry black glaze.

The piece is inspired both in form and construction by how fungi bundle together as they grow. The sculpture consists of individually sculpted funnels that come together to create the overall piece.

The piece was exhibited at CONNECTED in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel in 2020 & was located in the hotel foyer as part of a Sculpture Trail in the historic city of Kilkenny run by the National Design & Craft Gallery.
Previously exhibited at Sculpture in Context 2019, at The National Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

Dimensions: H 125 cm W 35 cm D 35 cm (overall incl. plinth)

Price: €1,400 sculpture + bespoke red plinth.

Available for sale.

My inspiration

You could be forgiven for thinking fungi are plants. As David Attenborough puts it – they are considered neither plant nor animal, but they possess traits of both.

Whether fauna or flora – for me they have endured as a source of inspiration.

I am particularly interested in clusters of fungi and in their growth formation.

How the fruiting bodies of the fungus begin in one form – for instance a cup-shape (apothecia) – but as each cupped body takes up more space they are altered and change shape.

Tree fungi inspiration, image from Pixabay.

Inspiration from Orange peel fungi (Aleuria aurantia). Image by Holger Krisp (Own work) licenced under a Creative Commons licence [CC BY 3.0] (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAleuria_aurantia_fungus_orange_peel_(second_view).jpg

In the case of Aleuria aurantia (Orange peel fungus) we particularly see the top edge or line of the cups having to fold and curl to make the best use of space.

As they cluster tighter together this distortion and folding of the line leads to a more interesting and organic formation and my aim is to explore this in my sculpture.

How was it made?

The piece is inspired both in form and construction by how these fungi bundle together as they grow and so the sculpture consists of individually sculpted funnels that come together to construct the overall piece.

The Folded Line was hand built and modelled using a grogged paper clay body (my own recipe) and was high fired in oxidation to 1280°C.