Statement and CV

Statement

Dean Coates is a qualified geologist and has a background in brick manufacturing, education and studio ceramics. He is interested in the journey and changing states of geological matter. How they are created, altered, transported, deposited and extracted. The story of deep time spanning millions of years.

His practice is experimental and process led, employing repetitive techniques to build forms out of clay that resemble, structural landscapes, stockpiles and abstract objects.The forms play with ideas of gravity and mass, slumping, solid heaviness of form, oozing glazes. Sometimes a ‘cheeky hole’ or a ‘sticky out bit’ nods to a remnant of human origin.

He mixes and develops his own glazes from raw materials, the alchemy of glazing provides him with an endless opportunity to experiment. The resulting way a glaze might bubble, cling, crawl and drip on the form are all variables in the experimentation that may surprise or disappoint.

CV