Blue Black

Blue gained a Certificate in Fine and Applied Arts from the Whanganui Regional Community Polytechnic in 1991, followed by a Diploma in Ceramic Arts with Honours from the School of Art, Otago Polytechnic. In 2005 Blue returned to the Otago Polytechnic and gained a Bachelor in Fine Arts. Blue Black has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand in group and solo exhibitions.

"As a process driven maker what I do with clay all starts with foraging in friends garden waste, gardens and recycling collections. Like a little pack rat I drag collected things back to the studio such as flowers, vegetable and plant roots, and a range of man-made materials and objects e.g. egg cartons, clothes, foam, installation and bed springs among other things. As a maker of ceramic objects I give most things a go with dipping them in layers of clay slip.

Currently the work is strongly influenced by a move into a fabulous light filled, spacious studio/home where aspects of past and present events are clearer and brighter. Living spaces, and past and present events shape our lives.

This work generated is process based . I just make and in the making, ideas and reasons for producing the work evolve during the process or until the works are realized. I am a maker because that is what I do. It’s often not until assembling the work that it fully takes shape. It is a process that grounds me, the act of making."