Ann Bruford
‘To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul’ – Simone Weil
After twenty years as a professional jeweller working predominantly in silver, I undertook a research MA at Arts University Plymouth exploring the emotional impact of touch and what it is that means ‘home’. My long enduring fascination with eroded forms and tactile, degraded surfaces continues through use of a wider range of forms, materials and processes to explain and embody my deeply held attachment to the landscapes I inhabit.
While I still work in precious metals, my ceramic designs include porous earthenware designs that echo the ochre-coloured cliffs of the East Devon Jurassic Coast which will absorb and then diffuse pure essential oils, adding to the sensory impact of each piece. Higher fired designs of tumbled barnacles and shell fragments hand built in both earthenware and porcelain are stained with oxides and glazed, occasional touches of gold lustre, and some in precious metal settings.