Scribbly Bark Form 1 by Patricia Hines

Medium: Ceramic, press molded, local clay slips, ash glazes 1280c
Size: 350x200x150mm
Gallery: Gunyulgup Galleries

These ceramic forms represent ‘Scribbly Bark’ – the patterns and indentations made by borers which are exposed after a tree has died and the bark has fallen.

A slab of clay was rolled and pressed into a log found in the Jarrah Forest near my home in Dwellingup. This slab was then bisque fired to create a mould. A fresh clay slab was then rolled into the mould and manipulated to make a form reminiscent of a tree trunk. The forms were painted with local clay slips and ash glazes and fired up to three times.

Each form is as a sentinel of what is gone and remnant of the traces which are left.