Dawn discovered a love for clay in her teens and always wanted to be a maker. Life took Dawn along a different path, but she continued to be drawn back to working with clay. Eventually she studied at Havering college and UCA Farnham and was finally able to pursue her passion and become a full-time maker in 2019.
Dawn throws various forms using white earthenware clay. The altered forms and indentations acknowledge the knocks and scars collected through life. Dawn continues to layer spontaneous marks in coloured slip to symbolise unforgettable moments and experiences that last a lifetime. Glaze is applied randomly to allow a contrasting surface of both the rough and smooth. Finally, she adds gilt which references ‘Kintsugi’ the Japanese art of mending a broken vessel with gold, restoring it to become precious once again. This is a much-loved metaphor for our own lives, a reminder to stay hopeful when things fall apart and to celebrate all that we overcome.
‘Kintsugi is not the art of erasure – the invisible mend, the erasing of a mistake – but rather the marking of a loss.’
Edmund de Waal
