Ruskin Prize 2026

The theme of this year’s Ruskin Prize is ‘Patience in Looking, Truth in Making’ and my ceramic installation ‘Outside of myself’, developed from 2023-2025 was shortlisted by the judges which means it forms part of the Ruskin exhibition taking place at the fabulous Trinity Buoy Wharf Gallery in London. I attended the opening event last night with my daughter and whilst with my partial hearing loss, this is totally out of my comfort zone, I was so glad that we went. There was such a positive vibe in the gallery which is full of a diverse mix of contemporary art and craft by 82 artists at all different stages of their career.

 ‘Outside of myself’ has been developed over 2 years as I explored a new, to me, material, clay, mindfully experimenting to develop metaphors for disease and decay.  Each object, a simple tube, stands alone as a single painting, whilst acting as an accomplice to its neighbours, in a catalogue of alchemic findings.

The predictability of repetitively making the same form has acted as both a grounding and leaping off point for the work, giving a sense of order which has then allowed the alchemy of learning, reflecting and investigating complex glaze combinations, to evolve and reveal diverse relationships and textures.  The structured process of making acts as a form of healing and renewal after a long period of navigating my mother’s neurological terminal illness (Motor Neurone Disease - MND) and escaping from a difficult few years of loss & uncertainty alongside a personal cancer diagnosis – experiences which can send shockwaves through your life plans and lead you elsewhere.

2 years on, with a 6 month break within this to recover from surgery, I am still making and exploring these themes and sculpting my way forward.