Stone is the backdrop to our existence. Diverse cultures have through myth and ritual been in constant cultural conversation with it. Our connection to it is undeniable, and we risk losing something of ourselves by failing to recognise that relationship. Modernism broke that bond, and new materials and processes dominate our built environment.

Since I grew up in a 1960s poorly built block of flats, I've always been aware of the consequences of bad construction on human wellbeing. As one of the first students in the UK to graduate with a master's degree in public art and design, my focus is creating work for our shared public spaces, many from stone. My philosophy is 'the evocation of the hands' – my tilting at windmills against the soullessness I see in Modernism. The contemporary use of stone in urban spaces was the theme of my Fellowship, to learn how creatives in the USA and Canada were exploring its continuing possibilities with a modern aesthetic.

Art, craft and tradition have always been in tension – are current practices of the stone trade fit for purpose as it moves forward? To explore this issue further I am continuing the conversations I started during my Fellowship through a podcast called DUST.