Head

The head was sculpted out of a solid piece of general purpose buff clay. I had spent weeks beforehand studying skull structure and musculature and was always on the look-out for the features I wanted to include - the face is an amalgam of characteristics from various people I knew.

The faceted base was designed to fit in thematically with that of a much-loved head I bought many years ago in Hillcrest just outside Durban.

I struggled with how to style the eyes and the break-through came one evening when I was home alone - Pam had been working late. I was playing Sibelius' Fifth Symphony and working on the eyes when I decided to use the tip of a Bic pen to create the pupils. The transformation was so sudden that it took my breath away - the head suddenly had life. It was that striking and memorable that I can even recall the music playing at the time.

I hadn't necessarily planned to fire the piece and a lump of clay this thick would crack on firing, but I decided to try by splitting it into 3 pieces with two horizontal cuts with a wire. The sections were then hollowed to a 1-inch thickness, reassembled with slurry and holes pushed through from the ears to allow for air expansion. After an initial firing, the head was glazed with oxides and finally fired to stoneware.