In Memory Escapes My Head like a Blur, Dave Lock ponders the fragility of memory; the paradox in how a passing memory’s significance is rendered insignificant by the fate that awaits it; the illusion of life as collection of memories suggests, as it gets shattered by the truth that time will bring about our eventual demise. Lock imagines the river of remembrance like a hazy dream, a blur, destined to drift towards the end of a hollow dimension until the memory of one occurrence becomes indistinguishable with another and its associated imageries fade away into oblivion. It is within this confusion that he finds an odd sense of comforting paranoia, which then registers itself through his free flowing artworks.

Aianthous is a botanical term meaning “ever flowering”. In her last two exhibits “Cornucopia” and “Clay Life” Pettyjohn began experimenting with forms taken from cacti and corals, fascinated by the intricate patterns they generate. High fired stoneware and porcelain ceramics are a perfect medium for this exploration, the plasticity of clay and the rich surfaces produced by gas and woodfiring lend themselves well to this expression.
 
In this exhibit Pettyjohn has moved a little towards a simpler and more abstract interpretation of  nature, her pieces resemble flora but on close inspection can’t be identified as any particular species. Her latest work seems to be an attempt to distill the essence of natural patterns into something new and completely her own.
 
There is another meaning of flowering also. After 25+ years of teaching and passing on her art and mentoring two generations of young artists I think we are witnessing a flowering of clay work in the Philippines, in no small part through her passion and dedication.
 
Contemporary Philippine Ceramics is now truly an “Aianthous” growth.