David Binns’ carved and glazed ceramic forms evolve through a direct and intimate engagement with clay. The making processes he employs involve starting with an almost solid lump of clay, mostly porcelain or finely grogged stoneware clay. Once the clay has dried to a leather-hard state, he uses woodworking chisels and blades to carve each piece, applying an intuitive mix of part control and part chance. All his work is glazed with a single felspathic-based glazed, adapted with different metal colour oxides and opacifiers. He fires his work in an electric kiln (oxidation atmosphere), to very high temperatures – usually around Cone 11 (1320°C). Firing to such a high temperature causes the glaze to flow down the vertical surfaces of each piece in exciting, yet unpredictable ways. Firing to these high temperatures also means the clay body itself plays an important role in effecting the aesthetic qualities of the fired glaze. Occasionally he adapts the clay body with additions of a granular feldspar, which melts and dramatically effects the overlying glazed surface. The chance elements he allows within his making and glazing processes mean each piece is completely unique and unrepeatable. Opening each glaze firing is therefore often a mix of excitement, anxiety, despair and hopefully delight. He draws inspiration from the contrasting shapes and textures found in contemporary architecture and the natural landscape. Shaped by a deep respect of the fundamental principles of Japanese aesthetics, he strives to make work that has visual beauty whilst conveying a sense of quietness and simplicity.
Paul Wearing’s approach to his practice embraces contrasts of control and chance within the glazing process. This can be seen within his treatment of the glazed surface which renders evidence of intentional brush marks and chemical reactions of the glaze. The surface is built up and transformed through the brushed application of multiple layers of slips and glazes – generally six glazes and two slips are used on each piece. The pressure, direction and speed of the brush connecting with the vessel’s surface determines only some of the outcome. The surface develops in a partnership between Paul, the materials and process. Layers simultaneously build and crumble under the application of further layers. The process begins to reveal its own language, determined in part, by chance. Once applied the glaze materials are set to react within the conditions of the oxidised firing process. Here the inclusion of selective volatile materials brings further disruption to the surface through blistering, cratering and crawling. Glazing and firing processes are repeated until the optimum depth and complexity of surface appears.
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Sue’s work draws on the quiet resilience of trees and bones—forms shaped by time, marked by fragility and carrying memories of growth and decay. Through slow, receptive hand-building, each piece develops as if guided by an internal rhythm. Textured surfaces hold lines like weathered stories, while a soft matte glaze evokes a sense of calmness.
‘My hurt, my joy, my scars, my healing, all shape the work I create in clay.’ – Sue Mundy
Jenny Southam hand builds figurative sculptures in terracotta clay. She delights in exploring colourful gestural mark-making over their surfaces. This painterly decoration aims to echo the emotional resonance of each piece.
“When I enter the studio I am searching for that serene state of absolute absorption that making and drawing can gift us, which we all wish will, in some manner, enrich our audience.” – Jenny Southam
In a career spanning nearly 50 years, ceramicist, Sophie MacCarthy has developed a unique and distinctive personal style. Through her subtle and bold use of coloured slips, painterly brushwork, stencils and wax-resist, she evokes the colours, forms and movements of the passing seasons. Often focusing on the ground, she finds beauty in the accidental compositions created by wind-blown leaves, stalks and detritus sometimes gathered around a storm drain or scattered over concrete and tarmac, juxtaposing the vibrant colours of the natural world with the gritty textures of the urban environment.
‘She has a poetic insight into the natural world’ David Whiting
Throughout his long career Peter has always sought pathways to the development of new ideas. Often this is a slow process, but sometimes a particular event speeds things along.
Partaking of two residencies in China recently, where Peter worked in porcelain at high temperatures, led him to develop a new body of work, made alongside his existing practice to which Peter is still deeply committed.
This new exhibition represents the outcome of Peter’s working practice.
'This exhibition explores objects that express a quiet equilibrium: fragile, shifting forms that exist in a state of delicate imbalance. Their stillness is easily disturbed, as if the act of holding too tightly might cause something essential to disappear. The works reflect an interest in forms that resist perfection, remaining slightly unresolved, unsettled, and quietly alive.' Akiko Hirai