Tina Wheatley

www.tinawheatley.com
@tinawheatley.artist

Through my arts practice I investigate the material properties of ceramics and textiles when they are combined. Through slow and contemplative processes of knitting and crochet, I am exploring experiences of cyclical and fragmented time, as these creative processes are intertwined with tasks of caring for family. By contrast, dipping the resulting soft textile objects into porcelain slip and changing them into ceramic objects is a spontaneous and proprioceptive method of creation. The transformational process of firing in the kiln alters the object’s form as it becomes incapable of being unravelled, but it often warps, slumps and tears through the intense heat – the cotton substrate burning out and leaving the ceramic shell behind. These material processes provide me with a visual language for investigating relationships between time, labour, care, craft, object, and value, and what may be culturally ascribed to ‘women's work.’