‘From the instant I was invited to take part in this project, my main objective became apparent as I entertained the question of how to approach such a monumental commissioned structure. I was interested in the way I was going to install the piece dealing with its relationship with nature, and I believed the criteria employed couldn’t be the same kind with which you would simply place a piece of furniture in a living room. Instead, the criteria needed to mirror how we should view the environment and nature surrounding us: far more harmoniously and respectfully. With this idea and vision in mind, I set up to build the trunks, which would then become one with the adjacent trees in Ragley Hall.

Through this whole experience, I was able to discover one of the main reasons ceramic sculpture has never been able to develop with the same intensity and success as other sculpting medias have been able to. It simply hasn’t been given the chance, since ceramics is generally viewed as a material in transit. However, I understand now that the place of ceramics among other disciplines is more the consequence of technical and practical constraints rather than the inability of the material to obtain given results. This realization is the biggest reward that I’ve been granted due to my experience at Jerwood. The answer is clear: when it came to techniques, we simply weren’t prepared, and this is why clay has continued to be used as a material in transit. In order to build each separate piece and achieve my intended goal, I had to make use of all of the technical support Baggeridge offered me. They supplied tractors and cranes, as well as industrial machinery to process the clay until it becomes an optimum paste. Once it reaches this stage, it is mechanically capable and prepared to resist climate changes and lower temperatures. Baggeridge also provided access to technically advanced, sophisticated kilns of enormous dimensions, which were an essential part of this project.

There were still risks involved during the process of creating a piece such as this; however, they were on a much lower scale compared to the circumstances in which Bernini built his models, or the Greeks their Tanagra figurines. From a more scientific point of view, we were able to mix my own clay – which is a mixture of Chilean clay and industrial mineral waste that enables me to arrive at very particular colours and textures – with English clay. This is sufficient proof that my life and work are naturally and organically amalgamating to the British landscape. For this opportunity, I have nothing but deep gratitude to the Jerwood Foundation for allowing me the possibility of overcoming the constraints of a material I have blind faith in, and to which I have devoted an important part of my life.’

Fernando Casasempere, 2007