Cob Bowl V

Gabriella Rhodes

Gabriella Rhodes is an artist and facilitator living and working on the Llŷn Peninsula, North Wales. Her practice is land-based, using local, foraged and reclaimed materials including clay, soil, stone and straw to create sculptural objects that sit somewhere between art and craft. Making is always preceded by research and fieldwork, often involving a detailed examination of geological maps and local industries, walking in the landscape and connecting with nearby ‘hole diggers’ like farmers and ground workers to divert the earth they have extracted. The materials and processes used in her practice are rooted in the cob-building history of Wales and the wider UK but are reinterpreted in new ways. Alongside mirroring the geological past in their material composition, pieces often reference geomorphic features on the Earth’s surface through abstracted marks, curves and hollows. Through these methodologies, she intends to create work that embodies the deep histories of the ground beneath us and fosters a reciprocal existence with the more-than-human world.