Q. You work with ceramics, a material that is soft during making and can be easily broken once fired. What keeps you returning to that tension, rather than working with something more stable or controlled?
A. Honestly, I think I must be a little mad. I’ve broken more pieces than I dare to count and it drives me insane how fragile they are, but I just keep making more. I learn through making and failing and making again, so I think this is my version of refining the process, with the hope that eventually I’ll get to a place of proficiency and harmony within my medium.

Q. Ceramic practice is highly process-led and unpredictable. How much is planned, versus left to the kiln, material or accident?
A. Testing things has never been my forte. I’m more of a jump-straight-into-the-deep-end kind of person, with very little planning and thinking about the consequences later. But as I’ve slowly refined my style, finding the materials that work for me, there is less and less left up to chance.

Q. What part of your process feels most instinctive or personal to you?
A. For me, it’s creating forms out of clay. I’m a country gal and I’ve always felt very connected to the earth, so working with a natural material, from the ground, just feels right for me.

Q. Some works introduce spikes or sharp interruptions into delicate forms. What are they defending or interrupting?
A. My spiky boys were born in a time of major upheaval and heartbreak in my life and I think perhaps they were my way of protecting my soft little heart, a form of armour.

Q. If your studio practice had an emotional temperature, what three words would describe it on an average day?
A. Calming, reflective, playful.

Q. Is there a studio rule you follow, or something you've learned to resist?
A. I’ve learned that creativity and productivity don’t always go hand in hand. I try not to put expectations on the amount of work I need to get done in a day. When it flows, it flows, and I’m trying to learn how to follow that.

Q. What’s currently pulling your attention in the studio, technically or conceptually?
A. I have had a desire to work with mixed mediums for a long time. I do a lot of other hand crafts and I want to be able to combine them. I want to bring a bit more joy and absurdity into my pieces.

Q. Have your ideas around form, fragility or material shifted in any noticeable way this year?
A. I’ve been working on strengthening my forms so there are fewer catastrophes, they have a longer life and cause me a lot less stress.

Q. When do you feel most in sync with your work and when do you feel distant from it?
A. My work feels very, very deeply a part of me. I cannot imagine a world where I wasn’t creating; it is such an integral part of who I am and I carry it with me always. I feel most in sync with my work when I’ve been able to form a clear vision in my mind of how I want the piece to feel. They don’t always turn out the way I plan them to look, but as long as they carry the feeling.

Q. What is the soundtrack of your studio?
A. This is a tricky question as I feel it’s constantly shifting with my mood. Music is such an integral part of my practice; I’d never go to my studio without my headphones. I’d say this week’s theme has been calming and a little bit ethereal, such as Blue Hour by Nosaj Thing.

Q. What tends to stay with you after you leave the studio; a thought, a form, a feeling?
A. I always leave the studio feeling inspired and enriched. It’s my happy place.