Kelp ash has been used in Japan for centuries as a sustainable and desirable glaze material. Here kelp ash has been mixed with red marine clay collected via push cores from the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Fresh kelp was collected in the morning tide in La Jolla, Ca and fired on to the belly of the white porcelain, burned silhouettes of the giant kelp leaves can be seen on the sides of the vessel.

Rim is coated with a rare sediment containing countless minerals and sands from the bottom of the sea floor. Photo of marine research vessel, Melville on INDOMED cruise which collected this material included.

18 x 21 cm

Material Background:

At the bottom of the deep sea, clays, ashes, the remnants of once thriving marine populations and mysterious sediments are studied by oceanographers to learn about our oceans. These sediments are special, timely, expensive to recover, and meticulously transported and organized. 

For the first time in history, (that we can find) these sediments are undergoing utilization as a ceramic art material. After months of research at the highly esteemed Scripps Institute of Oceanography, I have commenced in further testing, and reusing of these precious materials so that the public has a poignant and beautiful way to access them.

A deep rich red clay that has withstood the test of time, blown from continents hundreds of miles away, mixing with past volcanic eruptions and the fallen endoskeletons of the millions of small creatures living in the sea- now able to be touched, felt and admired by an art lover, outside of a research vessel.

These sediments give us valuable information about the landscape of our oceans in the long term, carbon dating weather patterns from millions of years ago, tracking changes in the marine environment and its complex relationship with our lives above water.

Pieces from this collection were displayed at the new Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility in Nov, 2023. You can read more about these sediments on the "Long Format" page.