Jan Cockell

Waitakere, Auckland, New Zealand

Title: Pierced Porcelain Vase

Year of Creation: 2009

Glaze: Matt white with high temperature black wash

Clay Body: Porcelain

Dimensions: Height 6 inches, Width 6 inches

Artist's Statement: Celebrating the beauty and diversity of nature plays a significant part in my work, my workshop/studio being ideally located in the bush-clad rainforest of the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland, and not far from the rugged coastline and beaches of the west coast of New Zealand.

Porcelain is my clay of choice. It is very tactile to work with, and has other qualities such as its fineness, its whiteness, its translucency when fired at high temperatures, and it gives good colour clarity with glazes.

To decorate my pots I use carved, pierced and imprinted designs adapted from patterns and textures which I see in the natural environment. The work is glazed with a matt-finish glaze, and the designs often enhanced with oxide washes applied by airbrush on-glaze prior to firing to 1260C. in an electric kiln.