Revisiting a College Truth: How Unconscious 'Fate' Led Me to the Inner Wilds of Clay
I am thrilled to introduce my new direction in ceramic art, a shift that is deeper, more textural, and driven by a lifetime of wrestling with one central question: What parts of ourselves are we hiding, even from ourselves?
This new collection, including my framed plaques and the sculptural ‘Containers of Transformation’, is a visual inquiry into the unseen ‘Inner Wilds’ of the self. This journey began decades ago in my third Year in College. A quote from the C.G. Jung book The Undiscoversed Self was the foundational concept for my Degree Show.
The Undiscovered Self
In the 1990s, I stumbled upon Carl Jung's The Undiscovered Self. While much of he book resonated with me, one sentence or my interpretation of that sentence became the silent engine behind my Diploma and Degree Show work:
"It is this fear of the unconscious psyche which not only impedes self knowledge but is the gravest obstacle to a wider understanding and knowledge of psychology." - C.G. Jung.
My personal interpretation of this, that Fear impedes us from revealing our true selves, felt like a thrilling revelation. It gave a name to the invisible barrier that kept us from authentic expression, of never really knowing ourselves. My art became an initial attempt to chip away at that barrier, exploring how society forces us into roles and narratives that aren't truly ours.
But over the years, this question has evolved from how fear stops us to how we stop the fear?
Revisiting the Unconscious: Meet Peter Crone
Now, decades later, I'm revisiting Jung’s wisdom, not through library books, but through the vast, immediate reach of modern technology. A new wave of platforms, the internet, Instagram, and podcasts, has made deep psychological concepts accessible like never before. It was through this digital landscape that I discovered Peter Crone, often called ‘The Mind Architect’.
Crone frequently references the powerful, yet challenging, Jungian concept:
““Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
This insight reframed the entire challenge for me. It’s not just about fear; it’s our unconsciousness. We operate from deep, ingrained patterns, our psychological "architecture", that run the show. Our ego, designed to keep us safe and comfortable, fiercely guards these patterns, labelling discomfort as danger and preventing us from looking hard at what is actually true. When we feel stuck or powerless, we blame fate, when in reality, we are simply being directed by the unseen programs we inherited and accepted as truth.
My new ceramic practice is dedicated to making this unconscious process conscious, beautiful, and tangible.
The Unseen Inner Wilds: The dark, deeply etched textures and layered colours in my work symbolize the dense, uncharted terrain of these unconscious patterns. It is the necessary darkness, the "shadow", that we must first acknowledge.
The Containers of Transformation: These vessels explore the very structures that hold our potential. Their surfaces are intentionally raw and deeply textured, a physical map of the psychological terrain.
The Emergence: The bright, resilient blooms and the upward-striving forms ("Learning to Shine") represent the profound liberation that follows. It is the moment we get over ourselves and accept the truth, leading to genuine freedom, love, and beauty.
This work is my invitation to you: to confront the ego, explore your own inner wilds, and finally claim the true, beautiful life that is waiting just beyond your own resistance.
P.S. To celebrate this new direction, I'm offering 15% off the new Containers of Transformation collection until December 15th. Click here to explore the pieces and begin your own journey of self-discovery! USE CODE; NEW15
