The built environment and its relationship with nature are the starting points for Amanda-Sue’s ceramic work. Through a combination of drawing and photography she records observations of her surroundings which she then distils and abstracts, seeking out structural harmonies and rhythms. Informed by these findings she then starts work in the ceramics studio, throwing on the wheel a series of shapes using porcelain or stoneware clay bodies. These thrown elements are then cut-up and re-combined, a playful process of building and constructing resulting in a sort of ceramic collage. 

An ongoing concern and area of enquiry is the interplay between form and surface – a surface activated either by additions to the clay body, texture made into the clay or a more ornamental approach applied onto the surface through hand-painted designs using slips, underglazes or lustres. Often the work is glazed only on the interior allowing for full scrutiny of the clay body on the exterior. 

Groups of one-off pieces are made exploring a theme in which Amanda-Sue will often impose a set of restrictions or rules. Working within this limited palette is important to the work, enabling Amanda-Sue to create in an iterative manner, using the last piece to inform the trajectory of the next. 

Amanda-Sue’s recent work moves away from tableware and while keeping with the vernacular of the vessel inclines towards a more sculptural outcome. Pieces work both individually or in a group scenario.