Les Ateliers Courbet

“While my body of work mainly investigates the expressive qualities of ceramic materials, I have always thought of myself as a painter and have occasionally combined the two mediums of expression. I would consider my vessels as three-dimensional canvases in movement. Each comes with its own quality. I am particularly inspired by bringing together materiality and matter in my pieces; the creative process is alchemical and different from working with pigments on a linen canvas or a piece of paper.

My love of porcelain originally came from its wondrous translucent quality. I have been studying and composing with porcelain for over forty years. The material has accompanied me along my artistic journey and been witness to many personal experiences. Grief inspired me to work with darker colours and black clays. I would find meditative comfort in painting, exploring deep colours and their grounding reflection of the light. Black absorbs light. It highlights the vibrance and the intensity of colours which in turn bring forth a sense of aliveness.

While my work is better known for its exploration of the white translucency of porcelain, I have always incorporated pigments and colour in my work. These would merge into the three dimensional clay canvas and emphasise a particular expression which would arrive as a sort of arrested movement. This new body of work feels like a widening and continuing articulation of this artistic research. For this exhibition I have kept the form of the vessel as a constant and have focused instead on the surfaces and the pigments whilst playing with different clay bodies and firing temperatures. The colours and the light interact through and around the curves of each physical form and surface in new ways. Controlling the firing processes led to light behaving differently along the forms, and highlighted an interplay with the porosity of surface and with the edges of the vessels. They absorb and refract light and colours in new ways.

I think of the Cityscapes as being sheer and refractive, and of the Countryscapes as being buff and soft. Having worked with the glassy vitrified surface of porcelain, I am finding a new freedom in the softer surfaces and the lower temperature firings. The resultant chalky, nuanced light seems to wrap softly around the vessels. To me they evoke distant horizon-lines. This series drew inspiration from master painters’ exploration of colours throughout history, from the Medieval religious paintings of European old masters to Rothko’s abstract investigation of soft dusty resonant colours.”

“In essence, my ceramic work investigates the expressive qualities of clay bodies and related materials (earth pigments, oxides, metallic glazes.) but I have always thought of myself as a painter and regularly combine the two mediums of expression. I consider my vessels as three-dimensional canvases in movement. Each arrives with its own innate character and distinctive qualities. I am particularly inspired by bringing together materiality and matter in my pieces; the creative process is alchemical and different from working with pigments on a linen canvas or a piece of paper.

My love of porcelain arose originally from its wondrous translucent quality. I have been studying and composing with porcelain for over forty years. The material has accompanied me along my artistic journey and borne witness to a wide range of personal experiences. Grief, for instance, inspired me to work with darker colours and black clays. I would find meditative comfort in painting, exploring depth of colour and its grounding mirroring of the light. Black absorbs light. It highlights the vibrancy and intensity of colour which in turn brings forth a sense of dynamic aliveness.

While my work is better known for its exploration of the white translucency of porcelain, I have always incorporated pigments and colour in my work. These would merge into the three dimensional clay canvas and emphasise a particular expression which would arrive as a moment of arrested movement. This new body of work feels like a widening and continuing articulation of this artistic research. For this exhibition I have kept the form of the vessel as a constant and have focused instead on the surfaces and pigments whilst playing with different clay bodies and firing temperatures. Colour and light interact through and around the curves of each physical form and surface in new ways. Controlling the firing processes led to light behaving differently along the forms, and highlighted an interplay with the porosity of surface and with the edges of the vessels. They absorb and refract light and colour in new ways.

I think of the Cityscapes as being sheer and refractive, and of the Countryscapes as being buff and soft. Having worked with the glassy vitrified surface of porcelain, I am finding a new freedom in the softer surfaces and the lower temperature firings. The resultant chalky, nuanced light seems to wrap softly around the vessels. To me they evoke distant horizon lines. This series drew inspiration from master painters’ exploration of colour throughout history, from the symbolism of Medieval religious paintings of European masters to the interiority of Rothko’s abstract investigations, to the dusty resonant colour of nature and the mystery of the hues of deep space.”