I made this small side plate in a pottery studio in Battersea, London. I started working there as an assistant a few months ago. I used a ceramic pencil and a red glaze wash and repeated a small sacred heart motif over and over.

I sent it to Boston as an engagement gift for my aunt and her husband-to-be. I wanted the repeated motif to be fun. The hearts remind me of how iconic cultural images in Pop Art are repeated. They also remind me of how young girls draw hearts everywhere. Yes, they are girly love hearts but the crosses also reference my aunts Irish heritage growing up in a catholic family. From the fifties after rural electrification until about the nineties many Irish homes would have a picture of Jesus which would be constantly lit up by a little red bulb with a cross inside it. It was a whole thing back then, but a lot less so now.

I think it is (hopefully) an engagement appropriate, appropriation of Jesus undying love ☺

♡♡♡

Photo Credit: National Museum Of Ireland, Sacred Heart Lamp on Laminate Board 1960’s

Sammy Duder Pottery Studio, Battersea, London https://www.sammyduder.com