Craig Underhill

My work has always been affected by my immediate surroundings and the environment that I find myself in. I have now lived in Cornwall for just over 2 years; the landscape of Cornwall has always been a strong influence in my work but now I am more immersed in it and more connected to it.

The observations of the visual language in coastal, rural and human made places that I make while walking and exploring are built up in my sub conscious and referred to when making my work, the ideal result of this is that my work will evoke a feeling of place, time, weather pattern or season without being over literal and representational. I have always found it important and comforting to understand my physical place in the landscape and to understand something abouts it’s history.

I like the flexibility and process of slab building and want the making process to be evident in the work I produce. Ceramic materials offer extensive opportunities to create rich surfaces; I always want an experimental strand running through my practice that allows me to explore this potential and discover new processes and surface qualities. I aim to make pieces that integrate form and surface into a single piece of work rather than making forms that are then decorated with marks and colour.