DAVID TUCKER    The ceramic figures in the Opening Gesture series are made using the ancient coil-built technique that creates a hollow bodied form. A piece of clay is rolled into a thin sausage shape that is squeezed onto the wall of the work in progress until a complete circle or coil has been added. There is usually some excess clay to be pinched off to allow the ends of the coil to be joined together. My practice is to roll the pinched-off clay into a ball and then press it between my palms, creating a pebble-like form marked with the lines of my hands. I have come to call these little objects tything stones. They are part of the process that does not add to the figure, but that is given away.   David Tucker 2005