In this conversation, Adele Howitt discusses her practice in the context of New Members of the Craft Potters Association at Contemporary Ceramics. She reflects on her working methods, sources of inspiration, and the ideas that underpin her work. The exhibition runs from the 2nd – 25th April 2026.
Interview by Dee Honeybun
The Exhibition
Contemporary Ceramics: How has your work grown or changed for this exhibition?
Adele Howitt: I’ve been experimenting with chrome to achieve speckled pinks and pastel greens in a matt finish.
Contemporary Ceramics: Your work bridges architectural ceramics, public art, and studio practice—how do you navigate the shift in thinking between creating for public spaces and making more intimate, contemporary ceramic pieces?
Adele Howitt: I really enjoy moving between public work and studio practice because they ask different things of me.
With public projects, I’m thinking a lot about people—how the work is experienced collectively, and how it connects to the history of a place. That usually involves a lot of research and conversations, and often I find historical links to hand-made traditions within the community.
In the studio, it becomes more personal and a bit more open. I can experiment more, take risks, and focus on smaller, more intimate pieces that invite closer inspection.
That said, the two aren’t separate. I tend to use similar materials and processes in both, so the studio becomes a space where I test ideas that might later expand into public work—and sometimes the opposite happens too. The larger projects feed back into the smaller ones.
So, it’s less about switching between two modes, and more about a continuous conversation between scale, material, and experience.
A Conduit to the Imagination
Contemporary Ceramics: You describe clay as a “direct conduit to the imagination” and draw inspiration from both natural and post-industrial landscapes. How do you translate these layered histories and environments into physical form without losing their complexity or subtlety?
Adele Howitt: I think of clay as a really immediate material—it responds quickly, and it holds every mark—so for me it becomes a way of thinking through ideas rather than just representing them.
Wild flowers, grasses and lichens, begin to absorb the post industrial landscapes are fascinating. I’m really drawn to post-industrial landscapes, especially where wild flowers, grasses, and lichens begin to take over. There’s something fascinating about how these plants reclaim man-made structures—slowly softening and revitalising them. It’s more about absorbing their movement, their natural pattern and growth, and evidence of weather.
I translate from sketches, macro photographs and sketch book work into processes of repetition, and surface treatment using traditional pottery methods. That allows different histories to sit within the same piece, rather than being flattened into one image.
I’m also careful not to over-resolve the work. Leaving space for ambiguity or ‘what if’ is important—it lets those subtleties stay active, rather than being explained away.
The complexity comes less from trying to include everything, and more from letting the material carry those accumulations of gesture, pattern, and movement.
Material Alchemy
Contemporary Ceramics: Your practice incorporates both carefully researched natural patterns and a strong emphasis on material “alchemy,” especially in glaze-making. How do chance, experimentation, and control interact in your studio process when developing a finished piece?
Adele Howitt: I definitely enjoy the alchemy aspect of ceramics—it’s one of the things that keeps the process exciting for me.
There’s always a level of unpredictability in how materials respond, especially in glaze-making, and I try to leave space for that rather than control it too tightly.
At the same time, there’s a lot of testing and structure behind it. I’ll work through glaze samples, firing variations, and material combinations so I understand the range of possible outcomes. It’s an on-going process and gives me a framework to work within.
So the process becomes a balance between control and chance. I might set up certain conditions—through layering glazes or adjusting surfaces—but then allow the kiln to do something I couldn’t fully predict.
I think that tension is really important. The more controlled elements hold the work together, while the unexpected moments bring energy and variation. That’s where the material feels most alive.
On Change
Contemporary Ceramics: How has your practice changed over time? What has been a seminal and/or inspirational moment?
Adele Howitt:
My practice has definitely evolved through experience, but there are a couple of key moments that really shaped it.
One of the most significant was a three-month residency in Seville, where I worked with a landscape architect on developing a bee line. That experience really shifted my thinking—I became much more aware of plants, ecosystems, and how environments function over time.
That interest continued to develop through later projects, particularly when I worked with Clifton Park Museum, researching the historic South Yorkshire potteries. I was really struck by the sense of abundance in that history cornucopias, idealised landscapes,—the idea of ceramics as something both functional and decorative, but also deeply connected to place and production.
Those experiences pushed my work in two directions: on one hand, a closer engagement with natural systems and growth, and on the other, a stronger awareness of ceramic history and making traditions. Bringing those together has really shaped how I think about material, surface, and context in my work now.
