Earth

Our sculptures are made of cob, which is mass earth made from clay subsoil, straw, and water. Cob is a traditional building material original to southwest England. The forms of our sculpture, by necessity, are simple and solid and are inspired by our surroundings, both organic and man made. The sculptures are usually created on site using traditional cob building methods. The cob is forked onto a foundation and each layer is stamped down by foot, then left to dry in order to take the weight of the next. The cob is then cut back, with a mattock to form the shape. We also use cob blocks which allows us to take preformed bricks to site, and build in all weathers. We enjoy experimenting with the use of different coloured subsoils and decorating our work with earth plasters, pigments and limewashes. Our aim is to encourage the use of earth as a building material.

—Jackie Abey and Jill Smallcombe