Could be Funghi, cells or plant structures & Beate Kuhn

As part of my wish to explore creating forms from different types of clay I chose to use a red stoneware clay with a medium grog content from Valentine Clays. This is a strange clay to work with it feels lovely but doesn't have very much plasticity so I was worried about surface cracking during construction.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some rounded forms into the pieces I was developing and I was browsing the internet and came across the work of German ceramic artist Beate Kuhn (1927-2015)  and knew immediately that this was something I wanted to explore further. Kuhn's work is all wheel thrown but has a cell like, plant like strange quality to it and the pieces are all connected in some way. Her work also made me think of the work of Toni Losey whom I had met at the International Ceramics Festival in Aberystwyth. 

Please see research link for posts about Toni Losey

This idea of strange cell/plant/funghi/body like structures all connecting together seemed to align really well with my own interests so I began to explore ways of making my own pieces. I used several plaster formers to create slabs which I then allowed to firm up so they could be joined together, I also made coiled hemispheres so they could be joined together to create a whole. I ended up with a series of circular ellipse type structures and spheres of different sizes but then I got stuck.

Below are images of work by Beate Kuhn

Below are some images of my own piece in progress