Inspired by a Chinese bottle gifted to her as a child, each piece Carolyn makes assumes its own identity with the application of transferred decoration. Collected imagery and text tell stories from lives past and present centring around the human condition and covering themes both significant and trivial. Through tearing and cutting, the storytelling becomes abstracted. Visible fragments hint at the narrative creating new meanings offering a connection between maker and observer.
Borrowing from historic ceramic tradition, on closer inspection Carolyn’s process gives each piece a contemporary twist. The eclectic shapes and surfaces stand alone, or work in harmony when grouped, capturing the gaze and allowing the viewer their own interpretation.
Classically trained at Camberwell School of Arts in the 1990s, today her work is hand-thrown in her studio in Wimbledon. She likes to create shapes dictated by the feel of the porcelain clay she uses and is particularly captivated by the bottle shape. Despite its idiosyncrasies and difficulties, she is drawn to porcelain. Its fluidity and elasticity on the wheel keep her energized and focussed on the creation of each one of her individual pieces of work.