This piece, or rather, part of a piece, being concerned with the nature of plants, has much in common with How Big was my Ben. I say ‘part of a piece’ because it is a project that I aim to continue for many years until, in fact, I have completed the index of all the plants in my garden. The project has no element of ‘Nature Mysticism’ attached to it; it is simply an investigation into the nature of materials that are most ready to hand in my immediate environment. If I lived in the city, my concern would be with what I found there. In both cases, it would be simply a question of naming things, the procedure being that which interests me; in this case. Finding and collecting the plants. Drying and burning them, making the glaze from the ash, and glazing the appropriate tile, so that the thing becomes identical with the thing named. The two tiles ‘roses arose …’ are, of course, a reference to Gertrude Stein.

Cratylus The English Artist and The Word, The British Council, London 1979