The word Newfoundland has become a metaphor for all my work, along with the making of it. It seems to be an uplifting word, three words, each one with its distinct meaning. The actual island is an extraordinary place, remote but abundant in the small wilderness landscapes that inspire me. A week of my life, spent there, has stayed in me with a great intensity – the mossy, latticed ground studded with berries; the rocky coast seemingly held together with lichens; the sense of a huge uninhabited centre just full of pine trees.
It also refers to the jewellery and boxes I have made from metal detecting finds – the everyday bronze remnants of history found in great quantity in this country. They have lain hidden for hundreds and hundreds of years, part of an unseen, underground world and I wanted them to find a new found life above ground, set into a new landscape.