Penny Green

Artist statement

My art is one of oppositional forces, using the relationship between ourselves and nature as inspiration for my hand crafted ceramic figures and decorative forms.

I have always loved putting things together to make conversation pieces and miniature worlds which reveal underlying tensions in seemingly tranquil scenarios with paradoxical landscapes and uneasy characters.

The subject matter is often nature themed using recognisable figurative elements in different dispensations.

Objects and paintings from the past can often inform a whole body of work as can be seen in my ceramic cloth made for Unravelling the Manor in Brighton. From a very obscure painting hidden away in the NE corridor I deciphered figures and branches and reconstructed their forms into the clay and formed a random patchwork quilt of ceramic.

Isaac Oliver's 16th century miniature 'Portrait of a Melancholy Man' inspired a series of melancholy men which explore the idea of melancholia as a natural human state.

Sharing characteristics of Staffordshire flat-backs and early English pottery, I endeavour to retain the figurative and narrative style which is so much part of their naive charm while intricately modelling the surfaces and overlaying all with a profusion of richly coloured glazes and patterns.