I did some more digging in my garden and unearthed some more of my ceramic pieces from my exhibition a decade ago. The exhibition featured ceramics made to look like fossils. I made the shell like forms from a variety of clays and saggar fired. The finished surfaces were interesting but never quite natural looking. Ten years on, nature has supplied the right effect.
My gardening skills are non-existent and unearthing the ceramics is really like being on a dig. These are some of what I found today. I know there are more (there is a Trilobyte form measuring 60cm long somewhere out there that really shouldn't have disappeared). I just have to be patient as I dig out the weeds.
I also unearthed a bust. It cracked in the kiln and now has a rather lovely mossy front - possibly the start of a very eco friendly bra.
In the front yard and easy to find is the piece that contributes most to a collaboration between mother nature and me - a giant shell shape. The shape was designed to be a fossil of something that was definitely extinct - the shell gets smaller and narrower as you get closer to the opening. In this case however, the form has been highjacked by a native tree that has grown up through the hollow bottom and then a hive of Australian native bees has made it home.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobite