Christine Pike

Sculpture: hand-built ceramic sculpture and resin editions. Figurative art

I took an unconventional route into ceramics, although a passion for sculpture and design was fostered in early childhood.

A move to Norfolk in 2007 provided me with the opportunity to build a studio suitable for a kiln, at last, and so enabled me to return to my first love; sculpting in clay. My current work is influenced by many things (I have a magpie brain and tend to collect and store ideas for later use), but chiefly it is informed by ideas and reflections upon the nature of childhood, play, half-remembered folktales, and what it is to be human. My pieces tell stories. Sometimes light-hearted, sometimes unsettling or melancholy, I aim to capture the character and a suggestion of private thoughts. Sometimes my figures disguise themselves as animals. Occasionally they are caught in the act of transformation; half human, half beast.

I have a particular fascination with hares. As an ‘incomer’ to East Anglia I am very aware of their significance to this region and, in fact, I never saw a live hare until I moved to Norfolk. And, of course, they are a gift to the sculptor, with their long ears, huge feet and muscular bodies. With all my animal sculptures I try to capture something of the wild spirit within, rather than to make an exact representation.

Perhaps because mark-making is so important to my work, I have recently begun to explore the possibilities of printing onto clay using traditional techniques such as lino-cutting, mono-printing and etching.