Artist Statement
My ceramic practice combines my love for clay, glazes and texture with my obsessive nature for order, symmetry and perfection. My process of working at the wheel, hand decorating each piece and firing such delicate forms up to three times, is a laborious and repetitive discipline on which I thrive. It is of great importance that every piece I make is an individual, unique, one-of-a-kind treasure.
My unique surface decoration was originally inspired by naturally occurring patterns, such as coral and sea life. As my work developed further, I have found I am now more inspired by properties of the clay itself and its boundaries, along with the patterns and shapes my subconscious creates when I am deep in concentration. I create sculptures that evoke a reaction in the viewer through their precision and ethereal appearance.
I have found my work and process to be completely immersive and therapeutic. It gives me an outlet to quench my need for obsessive repetition and ‘perfection’. Meanwhile the unpredictability of glazes and firings keeps me forever captivated.
About My Work
Hand Thrown
It is of great importance to my practice that every piece I make is an individually made, unique, one-of-a-kind treasure. Therefore, each form is thrown on the potter's wheel, turned, and hand decorated.
Hand decorated
I explore highly decorated surfaces using a process called slip trailing to build up spherical patterns on sculptural forms. Slip is a mixture of clay and water, and at the right consistency it can be piped like icing using slip trailer tool. The slip dots add a textured element to the surface, which extends the art form from just a visual experience.
Each pattern is applied freehand, with individually piped dots.
Glazed
In recent years, my passion for glaze chemistry has grown hugely. I test and develop hundreds of recipes using raw materials, finding glazes that suit my subtle textured surfaces.
It’s a fine balance to find glazes rich in colour, but accentuate the dotted surfaces which I spend hours decorating.
Gold
I often finish my pieces with gold lustre, which I hand paint onto the glazed surfaces and fire a third time to around 800°C. Gold lustre is real 24 ct gold metal suspended in a medium, which burns out in the kiln and leaves the gold behind to bond with the surface.
Miniature
I consider my work small-scale and miniature, working with a scale between around one centimetre and twenty centimetres high. Even on the smallest forms, I exploit the tiny surface as much as I can with dense decoration.
Full Scale
I also work on larger pieces, always pushing the boundaries. There’s a very small window where I can decorate a piece with slip dots successfully before the clay becomes too dry, so working larger can have it’s challenges. Working on a large form can take days, and just like my miniatures, I pay attention to every part of the surface.
Home Studio
I have a fully equipped ceramics studio set up in my home: a small shed with a kiln and glaze lab, and a conservatory studio with a wheel, desk and display area.
My work is thrown, turned and decorated in my conservatory, then taken to the shed to be fired and glazed.
About Me
I discovered ceramics while studying a foundation course in Art & Design. I started the course thinking I would specialise in drawing and painting, but I had one workshop in ceramics and fell in love with the process, the feel of the clay, everything. Our ceramics tutor then left soon after, and we were told if we wanted to specialise in ceramics we would have to teach ourselves. So that's what I did! I loved it. I am almost completely self taught, and I've been running my own business full time since 2017.
Here I am at my first professional exhibition, July 2018.
I grew up in Scotter, Lincolnshire, and now live and work in the historic town of Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, UK. I have a fully equipped home studio where I create all my work.
I worked for Lee Steele as a technician and studio assistant from 2017 - 2020, who influenced me greatly. I was surrounded by a pottery community and learned so much.
Check out Lee’s website. He teaches classes as well as selling his own ceramics.
http://www.thepotterman.co.uk/
Thank you to my incredible husband, who puts up with me when I work all the hours under the sun, and has always supported me fully. Thanks for driving me round the country for exhibitions, and doing all the post office runs. You’re the best.
