Christina Bryer trained as a jewellery designer at the University of Stellenbosch, where she also lectured
after her postgraduate studies in Phortzheim, Germany. Since 1980 she worked on her own as a studio
artist/designer. She regularly exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Since 1998 she has
concentrated on porcelain work and the aperiodic tilings developed by Roger Penrose.

“Geometry, in general and repeat patterns specifically, (Escher, Alhambra, Nature) have always dominated
my creative process. When a friend introduced me to Penrose’s aperiodic tiling seven years ago, I became
interested in their visual implications and I have been obsessed by them ever since. The grid I use was
constructed with unsophisticated equipment to give it a hand-made, rather than computer-generated look,
while strictly adhering to the mathematics of aperiodicity.

I experience the tracing of the grid as a meditative and intuitive process. The straight lines, circles, rhythms
and scaling emerge by themselves. I do not try to influence the outcome or control the process. The
structure seems to change with the slightest variation in shade, tone or hue so I restrict myself to sepia - the
poison of the Squid - to render these watercolours in my quest into the unfathomable depths of the web of aperiodicy.”