our story so far
Seatree is an on-going experiment into living creatively. We make things from clay; pots, pictures, sculptures. Most of our work uses original poetry. Michaela does most of the pottery and Chris writes the poetry, loves glazing and also frames the finished pieces.
In 2016 we decided to try to live a different kind of life; simpler, more sustainable and more creative. We both worked in stressful jobs (Chris as social worker/manager of mental health services, Michaela as a community worker) and we had the usual financial pressures, but a window of opportunity opened up and it felt like now or never. That was the beginning of seatree.
‘for a while, the room will become the universe and it will be possible to believe in starlight.’
things we love
Michaela: My family. Life in Scotland and the ever-changing colours. Clay. Birdsong. Films that move me. Kindness. Music, especially live. The wind in my hair.
Chris: Spring. Michaela. Music that makes me cry. Oak trees. Small islands. Big mountains. Carved wood. Sitting around a fire with friends, dreaming of better things. Kindness.
who we are
Artists’ statement:
We are inspired by the area we live in, surrounded by hills and water. Michaela creates ceramic art, marking the clay with lines and textures that reflect the beautiful shores, trees and mountains of Argyll. She uses the poetry written by Chris, a published poet. The pieces bring together the beauty of words and spaces.
Michaela’s ceramic work brings together her interests in words, colour and form. She has developed her ceramics through a mixture of self-teaching and attending workshops, learning hand-building techniques and developing skills in glazing. She is also learning through networking with other potters in the area and online.
Chris has always been a wordsmith and has been funded to work on his own fiction and poetry as well as to curate books of unpublished poetry. He has had a number of poetry books published as well as poems in journals and articles in magazines, exploring themes of spirituality, wilderness and social justice.
Chris and Michaela make and sell their ceramics and driftwood under the name seatree – working together to create unique pieces using clay, poetry and driftwood – selling in almost twenty shops across the UK as well as online and at occasional selected ceramicss and makers fairs.
Our work is inspired by their beautiful Argyll location, often using the lines, textures and colours of the mountains and sea rendered in clays glazes and words. Their work explores the human conditions as well as searching for the spirituality of wild places. The mixed media nature of their work, along with their partnership of different skills, means that Seatree produce unique art which has the capacity to inspire and emotionally engage. Chris and Michaela describe this as emerging from their own search for truth and meaning.
Sharing our love of poetry and pottery:
Although we make and sell, much of our time is spent in sharing what we do. We run workshops both within the studio and in the community for family groups or for community and voluntary organisations. We have provided classes for a wide range of people – children with autism, adults with dementia, young carers, school children, people faced with homelessness, low income groups through the local arts centre, and so on. We sometimes help people express their own creativity with their individual work or to work together as a group to create poetry collections or ceramic murals.
what we’ve done
Education:
Both Chris and Michaela are degree-educated and have achieved further qualifications in counselling and therapy. Both are self-taught artists and writers.
Selected exhibitions – We have been part of group exhibitions at the Velvet Easel Gallery in Portobello, the Dancing Light Gallery in East Kilbride and other joint exhibitions at Tig Gallery, including an upcoming one in June for the Fife Regatta.
Solo and group exhibitions
Solo exhibition – Where the streams come from (March 2018)
An exhibition of our ceramics with poetry at the Tighnabruaich Gallery in Argyll. This exhibition explored the themes of origins, becoming and life cycles. It was successful both commercially and from feedback. The curator commented specifically on the visible emotional impact of the exhibition on those who experienced it.
Selected exhibitions – We have been part of group exhibitions at the Velvet Easel Gallery in Portobello, the Dancing Light Gallery in East Kilbride and other joint exhibitions at Tig Gallery, including an upcoming one in June for the Fife Regatta.
Commissions:
We have produced a number of commissions including particular scenes and poetry for wedding gifts, ceramic art pieces for new births and requests for certain landscapes in ceramics. Our pieces bring together the beauty of words and spaces and it is wonderful when people approach us to create something just for them.
Curating experience:
Both Chris and Michaela have a background in working with people and have a passion for social justice arising from work with disadvantaged groups. They have participated in and led community art projects and have had experience of joint curation.
Chris and Michaela are founder members of ‘aoradh’ a faith and arts community who have a long track record of setting up innovative community art events, including labyrinths, mediation and poetry trails and interactive art experiences outdoors, as well as installations at festivals.
why seatree?
By the way, the name seatree comes from a poem that Chris wrote a few years ago. Here it is;
High on the shore line
Above the storm berm
The winter sea gave out a pilgrim trunk
It was thrown up the beach
Like you or I might flick a pebble
The corpse of the old tree
Has been gnarled and shaped
By encounters with deep reefs
Where it rolled and shoaled with the fish
And bore the barnacles and wracks
Of the deep blue sea
Now it lies here
Like bone of leviathan
It has taken on the colours of the deep-
Sea green
Shadow black
Red like the eye of a shark
Grey like the dripping tail of a whale
All faded a little by the blown sand
But jewelled instead by salt crystals
Drawn out in the low sun
Who knows where its roots are
Or what of its seed
Still remains
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