Contemporary Ceramics is excited to present David Binns and Paul Wearing | Of The Land. As part of this joint exhibition, which runs from Thursday 16th October – Saturday 8th November 2025, we spoke with each of the artists. In this post, we talk to Paul Wearing, and delve into his creative process and learn more about how he works.
Contemporary Ceramics: How has your work grown or changed for this exhibition? What kind of journey do you hope to take your audience on?
Paul Wearing: My work had undergone considerable changes in the last five years so I felt I wanted to take the audience on a journey of discovery by presenting a significant body of work that reflects the changes. Present are the Ellipses and Cylinders that may be more familiar. On these the glaze brush work is evident and although abstracted, I reference the horizon line. The surface changes to a more exploded state of nature, the glaze either entirely overloading the piece or certainly abstracted further.
Contemporary Ceramics: Your work explores our interconnectedness with nature’s seasons and cycles, drawing parallels between natural rhythms and your own making process. How do these slower, evolving cycles influence the way you approach creating and firing your sculptural vessels?
Paul Wearing: I learn so much about living whilst observing and experiencing nature. Its seasons and cycles reveal to me aspects of birth, living and dying and certainly help me to grasp the constant changes in life. The slow process of coiling in clay and then applying layer upon layer of slip and glaze is a carefully controlled, immersive and meditative one. To then relinquish control by harnessing the innate volatile qualities of certain materials such as silicon carbide and magnesium carbonate within the glazes and submit the work to kiln firings, is vitally important to me. It is through these repeated efforts that my understanding of materiality and the interrelationships of nature and culture develops.
Contemporary Ceramics: You use press-moulding and coiling in your vessel-making, each offering a very different pace and level of control. How do these different techniques shape the final form and texture of your work, and how do you decide which approach to use for a piece?
Paul Wearing: I find I use less press moulding now and prefer to start each piece with a pinched base. This has come with time and experience and the strengthening desire to create a greater variety of forms, to play a little more and enjoy creative freedom. This is what coiling offers me, I can either plan the piece before starting or have an idea and then see how that materialises through the making, employing changes as necessary.
Contemporary Ceramics: How has your practice changed over time? What has been a seminal and/or inspirational moment?
Paul Wearing: My practice has changed considerably since I graduated from my Degree in 2000. What has remained though is my subject: nature | human nature. It may present differently, at times in the human form, but predominantly through the vessel form. The vessel is such a strong symbol of civilisation and its universality makes it an accessible vehicle.
I have found that seminal moments often come after periods of research. In 2019 I started a project which resulted in new forms such as the Tilt Ellipses and Dome Cylinders. The surfaces also developed from this project. The key factor was having time to research, remaining open to new possibilities and exploring things without necessarily thinking of a finished object.
Contemporary Ceramics: Has clay always been your artform? How did you first get involved in
working with clay?
Paul Wearing: I have worked professionally with clay since 2000 but my first experience was in primary school, making a pressmoulded and modelled house and garden, which my mother still has! Throughout and beyond my childhood I drew and painted and then went on to design and make lighting before deciding on the ceramics degree aged thirty.
Contemporary Ceramics: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?
Paul Wearing: I saw a Francis Bacon exhibition at the Tate Gallery in the early 1980’s and was so blown away by his self portraits. The way he used the paint to render more than a look struck me powerfully through the nervous system. I felt emotionally connected and so alive looking at his work and I loved that he seamed more concerned with rendering feeling rather than correct anatomical representation.
Contemporary Ceramics: Do you find inspiration from elsewhere? What images keep you company
in the space where you work?
Paul Wearing: Nature is my constant source of inspiration and living in Cardiff I have access to lots of it from the river Taff, the Heritage coastline, the woodlands and mountains as well as the city gutters, all close at hand.
I do also lose myself on Instagram and love discovering art, design and made things there. I also have quite a collection of books, artist’s monographs and nature photography and writing.
Contemporary Ceramics: Do you find inspiration from elsewhere? What images keep you company in the space where you work?
Paul Wearing: I think working with clay has been an integral part of my whole lifestyle. From the initial desire to contribute to society creatively with natural materials to the community of potters, artists and makers that welcomed me, people that are my tribe. The humble material makes strong connections.
Contemporary Ceramics: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?
Paul Wearing: I think working with clay has been an integral part of my whole lifestyle. From the initial desire to contribute to society creatively with natural materials to the community of potters, artists and makers that welcomed me, people that are my tribe. The humble material makes strong connections.
