Artists Statement - Fiona Coffey

For most of my life I have tramped the fields that surround me. Each has a name and personality as distinct as my own, and each has a story to tell. The stone walls, ancient hedges and indistinct ruins hold secrets of lives long past; life and death, happiness and sorrow. These fields have made me what I am. Already I am part of those shadows for others to walk through.

I listen and absorb the smells and sights and sounds that have not changed over time. The cattle graze beside me oblivious, their sweet breath mingling with the bruised smell of the grasses. I am drawn to the simplicity of life in this field. I have put aside
technology and the fast pace of my modern life, and let the humble elements that surround me speak. For these are the constants, the values that will not change with time.

Notes on working methods for the Bó Series (Cattle Series, Work in Progress)
The Bó sculptures are created directly in the field, using the earth in my hands as a sketchbook. Impurities in the local clay lend their own voice to the maquettes, and to the clay moulds into which the bronze is poured. Using techniques that go back to the Bronze Age, I dig a tiny pit furnace in the ground and line it with sandy clay, then use a bellows and charcoal to melt the bronze, and an ancient and very local mix of clay and cow dung to make the moulds.

Fiona Coffey, Sept, 2004