After two years battle for our daughters mental health recovery from personality disorder and After her passing away in the mental health institution from lethal self harming incident.

When and how did your interest in art develop?

I’ve been making things since I remember myself, at the age of three I made a bet with my sister that “ when I will grow up” I will be an artist. I guess she owes me that 1 Euro.

Since passing of my daughter I stopped doing many things like canoeing in whitewater and also any creative expression in clay. One year after I learned to enjoy the physical feeling of clay by making the simplest pinch pot shapes. I did not dare to make sculpture in fear to expose the soul braking emotions. It was after one of my therapists “pushed” me in to expressing what I feel and not to feel guilt about not making “uplifting and happy” art. That’s how current body of art developed. Which might not be pretty or perfect technically but undoubtedly is honest and displays raw emotion.

What influences your art?

Currently my art is mainly influenced by complexity of the pain from loosing my beautiful daughter, by sense of duty and love towards my other fantastic daughter and the love of my life Steve. It is influenced by endless attempts to survive the unimaginable catastrophe after your world has collapsed after loosing the most precious you have your child

What process do you go through when you are creating a piece (starting with the initial idea)?

The initial idea is a wage feeling, then it starts to take shape and sense of the right medium, sometimes it’s a sketch on the paper or a quick sketch in clay. The following making process usually evolves independently of initial idea it progresses by itself directed by clay and emotion, my hands become simply tools which follow momentum of syntheses of material and human emotion

Which artists, if any, have you drawn inspiration from

While admiring work of many visual artists my inspiration more often is drawn from written word , sometimes songs. Just to name Some of the artist who use words as their medium Shinji Moon a wonderful young poet and author of the beautiful book “The anatomy of being”, Kahlil Gibran with his work “Prophet” their words touched my soul and resulted in creations in clay……

Do you have a favourite piece? If so, which one and why?

There are actually two pieces I have made that are dear to me (I have attached images of both in case you would like to see them) One is a small sculpture of my daughter who passed away, the sculpture was made almost ten years ago when we were going through her teenage years, this sculpture is an attempt to see the beautiful and so lovable little girl behind the “Emo” and rebellion.

The other piece is from my “Sun & Moon” black clay “kitchen” range, its just feel “right” and warm.

What do you hope the viewer gets from your work?

This a physical display of a Mothers journey of acceptance after the loss of her daughter. Words cannot describe the emotions that come with such a tragic loss, but the emotional context within the sculptures translates to a more powerful representation of the evolution of the personal emotional state.

People can view each piece and experience their own emotions that each sculpture brings. They may not see or experience the same state as the artist, but will take a sense of insight into the artists state of mind.

What has been the highlight of your artistic career?

While for the most of my life, the art making had to take a secondary role after the primary job, I guess that for me as an artist the highlights are times when I share my skills with others and can see how a simple piece of clay can make a real difference in someone’s life, even if it lasts only for a short moment, it’s a valuable moment of escape and solitude..

While being admitted to mental health hospital I facilitated a pottery sessions and feedback from staff and fellow patients was overwhelming.

Currently due to my very fragile state of mind since the loss of my daughter not being able to engage personal with shows and galleries to give my artwork exposure I found and online venue which not just gives the boost to my artistic self but also proved to be a wast pool of inspiration. While I almost stopped using social media Instagram proved to be a wonderful outlet to showcase my work to magically supporting, inspiring and encouraging audience with over 700 followers

Has being a part of Outside In been beneficial for you? If so, how?

Even if I have been a part of Outside in only a very short period of time it has a wonderful pool of artists and excess of fascinating and inspiring stories also wonderful array of resources for artists which Im really looking forward to browse through.