PROCESS

My work explores a range of ideas using characters from variety of mythology and literary sources. All the work is currently thrown on the electric or kickwheel and is then carved or painted directly under and sometimes over the glaze, or left as bisque. I sometimes apply lustres and other glazes such as ash at lower temperatures. I often use multiple firings but will occasionally use single firings for large bisque pieces.

It is important to emphasise that I currently do NOT use any types of transfer, everything on this site is currently painted with a range of different brushes, often soft haired Chinese brushes and synthetic watercolour brushes. Occasionally I use hog hair brushes for types of ‘scumbling’ effects that I wouldn’t want to use with softer brushes. The process of painting and throwing are remarkably similar in that both processes require a degree of mental and physical ‘presence’ that is in itself incredibly rewarding and I think, essential practice of everyday life. At any stage work can fail and anyone who works with clay and porcelain in particular knows that it can be very unforgiving, at least initially. However, the painting a line of cobalt or lifting and shaping clay on the wheel requires a quality of harmony, a balance of confidence, technique and relaxation, the latter being extremely important. Over time, I have become extremely aware how important how we hold our breath when working with a line or centering clay. This quality of ‘presence’ is one of the greatest rewards of working with such wonderful tools and materials as it creates an opportunity to become increasingly aware of how we physically and mentally involve ourselves in such and intimate process. There can be no childish force, only balanced present minded strength will allow the subtle working of form to be developed.

This intimate, necessarily present minded meditative quality that exists as one evolves through the process of making is all the more extraordinary as it appears to echo in subtle ways accross the working processes and is constantly evolving and teaching new things through regular training practices in the sudio.

Click here for video example of working on a kickwheel in a garage in Elne, in the South of France 2009.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

I am a full time artist based in London. I currently work both in London and a small town in the south of France called Elne, part of Catalonia near the Pyrenees. Here I have access to a range of facilities and support networks that allow me to develop my work in depth.

My work ranges from paintings in watercolours and oils to a variety of ceramic work including earthenware, stoneware and porcelain.

The majority of my ceramic work I make is thrown, made on either a standing kick, momentum or electric wheel. Since 2009 I have exhibited mostly in France including a range of group and one man shows. I have also made a large number of works for individual clients and collectors who often commission works for their own private collections or for exhibition. This has included private and public commissions.

I initially studied fine art at Camberwell and Canterbury and the principle focus has always been painting and drawing, so much of what I do relies upon my knowledge and experience of the conventions particularly of European painting. My work is informed technically and to some extent iconographically by these traditions. However, my influences are extremely broad and eclectic and include a wide range of references including academic and theoretical approaches that allow me to explore specific areas within visual representational culture. This includes areas such as social semiotics, (specifically indexical qualities and spatial codes) along with traditional approaches to iconography, such as those represented by Panofsky and Wolflin.

Over a long period of development, the integration of these different areas into the production of my work have proven to be very useful, while also allowing me to explore deeply a wide range of visual culture.

From 2006 onwards I committed to working with ceramics. Initially I started hand building vessels inspired by Greek Archaic, Iznik and Chinese porcelain, but quickly moving onto the wheel, I discovered traditions of making and working with clay that were completely new to me. In particular, Korean Buncheong, Japanese Mashiko wares of Hamada and Shimaoka and the Leach tradition, all started to pull me strongly into wanting to delve deeply into functional ware as well as continue to make paintings and throw forms purely for painting.

My interest in traditions and the conventions of ceramic work, the very intimate quality of the working process and relationship to material, has meant that over the last ten years I have applied the same diligent study that I applied to painting earlier in my life to Ceramics traditions and culture across the globe.

Drawn in particular to the Greeks and Chinese works, (that started me off with ceramics), I have gradually been exposed to different traditions such as those of Mashiko; Hamada and Leach, Korean Buncheong and Choson Dynasty ware and of course Japanese ware that have inspired me to go deeper into the exquisite subtle nuances of process and working with clay and form on the wheel.

In 2009 I started working full time in France on a momentum kickwheel and this time allowed me to develop and evolve throwing skills and go deeper into the process, its traditions, techniques and applications. Overtime beginning to understand the subtle aspects of form and function and the problems with working with painted decorations, particularly figurative representations. Over the years, while hungry to learn more and go deeper into all aspects of the art, I frequently find myself returning to the amazing examples of Chinese; Yuan, Yongle porcelain, Song dynasty chun ware or Black and Red figure Archaic ware of the Greeks. This very round about journey leaves me very refreshedsolutions to various representation problems.

In 2018 I completed an MA in Ceramics at the RCA that allowed to me challenge many of the ideas that I had been developing on my own in France and the work I produce now which is a combination of exhibition sculptural form and functional ware has evolved through careful development through this time returning to art college.

Much of my ceramic work involves painting with oxides, slips and engobes under transparent glazes in traditions similar to those of Korea, China and Japan. Both my painting and ceramic work share common values, although there are some very important distinctions that I make when workng with ceramics in contrast to working on a 2d surface. My working practice will often involve developing the ceramic work and the 2d work side by side as my projects develop. My ideal is to exhibit the different practices together. For more information about this, please click here.

Throwing

The majority of my work starts on the wheel. For me, the wheel is a complex and subtle art form with so many variables, (most of them hidden or rarely spoken of it seems). It is perhaps best described as an ever evolving journey, slowly moving through years of practice and study into deeper layers of understanding and awareness. One of the most wonderful aspects of the process is the meditative relationship that is created working with the exquisitely beautiful and intimate qualities of clay and form.

For many years in France I worked on a kick/momentum wheel very similar to a European Medieval wheel and this taught me many valuable skills in working with a range of clays and beginning to dig deeper into a deceptively subtle art that is working on the wheel. Throwing requires extremely high levels of training and skills, but what I find extraordinary is that through both daily questioning practice and study it is possible to go ever deeper into a more meditative and present state of mind. This increasing ‘present’ state is by no means unique to throwing but I find echoes through various aspects of production including painting and carving. One way of describing it is as a state of harmony with oneself and the work. A phrase from Hamada describes much of this idea very well I think, paraphrased in translation by Susan Peterson as; ‘…making pottery should be like walking down a mountain in a cool breeze’. Increasingly this idea comes to summarise my experience of throwing after many years of exploration.

These days I work both on a standing kick wheel and most on a shimpo, which makes throwing large forms much easier. However, the benefits and subtleties of feeling that I believe are so important to develop over time, are pulled into a sharp awareness with a more difficult wheel such as the beautiful Korean Kerako that many people have been use in parts of Japan, including Mashiko.

An example of me throwing on a traditional momentum kickwheel in a garage in Elne, South of France in 2009. Click Here for video (Film made by Charlotte Welfling 2009).

Painting/brushwork and carving

My work explores a range of ideas using characters from variety of mythology and literary sources. All the work is currently thrown on the electric or kickwheel and is then carved or painted directly under and sometimes over the glaze, or left as bisque. I sometimes apply lustres and other glazes such as ash at lower temperatures. I often use multiple firings but will occasionally use single firings for large bisque pieces.

An example of working with ‘Hakeme’ slip and a traditional Korean Buncheong brush. This work is stoneware, thrown in two parts with multiple layers for an exhibition at Rosenfeld Porcini in 2019. Click here for video