Peter and Julie Collis enjoy the transformation of physically changing something from rawness to sophistication with clay, glaze and fire. Peter creates pure, balanced, evenly proportioned objects while Julie uses throwaway objects such as crushed paper and plastic bags to create something of prized value.
The constant theme in Julie’s work has been an interest in many of the traditional feminine domestic crafts. She explores the qualities of materials and experiments with slip casting delicate bone china pieces, adding fancy handles of gold lustre. The results are something precious made out of something that would otherwise have been thrown away: Trash has become trophy.
Peter works in soft paste porcelain, a delicate and difficult medium. Here he has used two techniques that explore its possibilities: in one he uses flocked, coloured slips of porcelain to bring out vivid colour through its high glass content. In the second, its self-glazing properties and delicacy are explored in an open tracery or basket format.
