CERAMICS

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I completed a contemporary ceramics degree at Wolverhampton University. I moved into teaching and leading Art courses in Secondary and Post 16 education.

Now working as a full time ceramic artist, my pieces are all wheel thrown. Some are composite forms and then some are cut and altered. The pieces are then glazed and fired to 1250°C.

I enjoy layering glazes to create textured surfaces, to explore matt and gloss, rough and smooth, in one piece.

I'm fascinated by form. I like mixing shapes together, the sphere, cylinder, cone and disc. Altering the composition and proportions and being inspired by many man-made and natural forms.

Before creating pottery from Dorset, Catherine attended Art College at Kingston, Surrey where she gained a first class B.A. Honours Degree in Fine Art. Catherine further developed these skills at Chelsea College of Art, gaining a Masters Degree in the field of Fine Art.

Catherine’s love of colour and line has fused together in her range of Spongeware and Mediterranean style ceramics, all handmade at her studio in Dorset. She is strongly influenced by visits to rural Portugal, reflected in her Dorset pottery with Lemons, Oranges, Olives Pomegranates and Grapes flowing across the surfaces of her ceramics, giving them vivid colour and vitality.

Elm House Studio only works with local Dorset pottery clay, fired to earthenware temperature. The thrown pots are covered with white liquid clay (slip) and later, the design is engraved through the surface to reveal the red clay beneath (scraffito). The pottery is then finally coloured using under glaze pigments and a clear glaze applied at the very end.

I completed a contemporary ceramics degree at Wolverhampton University. I moved into teaching and leading Art courses in Secondary and Post 16 education.

Now working as a full time ceramic artist, my pieces are all wheel thrown. Some are composite forms and then some are cut and altered. The pieces are then glazed and fired to 1250°C.

I enjoy layering glazes to create textured surfaces, to explore matt and gloss, rough and smooth, in one piece.

I'm fascinated by form. I like mixing shapes together, the sphere, cylinder, cone and disc. Altering the composition and proportions and being inspired by many man-made and natural forms.

Kirstie and Paul Hayler work from their home studios, overlooking Firestone Copse on the Isle of Wight. Kirstie studied painting at Brighton University, and went on to enjoy a career as a photographer and illustrator. She briefly encountered the potter’s wheel many years ago, and moving to the island in 2017, knew that this was exactly what she wanted to do. Paul mixes all of the glazes from scratch, using raw ingredients and stains, making them a true artistic collaboration. Paul has always enjoyed making, historically using wood.

I am inspired by the colours, shapes and textures in the endless variety of trees and plants in my surroundings in the Quantocks and on Exmoor. Endeavouring to transfer this fragility and beauty into the detail of my work. 

All my work is hand-built using coiling and slab work I feel these methods give a unique, organic quality to my finished designs. 

My glazes are created from base materials and now after 10 years experimenting I feel I have developed a pallet of colour and texture that best suits the fine detail that I love to work into my designs.

I make stoneware pottery with a traditional feel for a modern life, desiring them to have a use and to be used. Living in a village I make some of my glazes with the addition of locally sourced materials ranging from wood ash out of our open fire to locally sourced earth from the hills near by to mud from the near by beach, all of which impart there unique qualities into the glaze. Taking influences from many local places as well as from the international world of art and craft, my work evolves as I look for truth and beauty.

I am a ceramicist living and working in beautiful Hampshire. I produce ceramics from both earthenware and stoneware and produce tableware that is colourful, beautiful and unique.

  I am relatively new to ceramics but have been lucky enough to have found another true passion in life. 

During lockdown 2020 my hobby started getting serious and with some gentle encouragement RJ Ceramics was born!

I use a combination of techniques to produce my products. Some are thrown and turned on a wheel but my torn edge collections are completely formed by just using my hands. I start with a lump of clay and after hitting, patting and moulding it,  these beautiful bowls are born. 

I thoroughly love playing with colours, patterns  and forms and  I am always trying to make something a bit different from the norm. Each piece is  unique,  some maybe similar but they are never  quite the same.

Each pot is thrown and turned on the potters’ wheel. Relief sprigs and models are added to each pot transforming these traditional shapes into individual works of artistic fun. The pots are decorated individually with brushwork using metallic oxides and vibrant glazes.

Whilst these pots are decorative they also combine their fun with function; all pieces are suitable for use in the kitchen or dining room and are dishwasher and microwave safe.

I have worked as a production thrower in potteries in England, France and Bermuda. Over the years I have picked up a range of pottery skills but had always wanted to work for myself and produce the pots I wanted to make and here they are.

I enjoyed learning how to make simple relief sprigs and models. I developed my own glazes and decorating techniques. I throw all my pots, add sprigs to the forms and decorate them with beautiful glazes.