October 2026
1 October 2026
Finding My Feet
It is difficult to believe that six weeks have passed since I last touched clay.
Six weeks since I finished my final piece for the MA Degree Show and completed the last firing. No wonder I have been feeling a little jittery. I miss being completely submerged in my work — the focus, the concentration and the absolute self-absorption that seems to be necessary for me to really connect with what I am making.
There have been a few bumps along the way since finishing the MA. I was ill for about two weeks afterwards, which perhaps wasn't surprising after the sheer exhaustion of those final few months. Maybe my body simply decided that enough was enough and it was time to stop. Or perhaps I just caught a virus. Either way, thank goodness it happened after I had finished!
Back home, I have been tackling the rather less glamorous side of becoming a practising artist — tidying, sorting and clearing out my home studio to try to turn it into a proper working environment for this next stage. This has inevitably spilled over into the potting shed, which is going to have to accommodate some of the things I can't fit into the studio, including old work and the ever-present, rather bulky packaging materials that apparently come with being a ceramic artist.
Gradually, though, I am starting to feel a little more settled and, inevitably, thoughts about what happens next are beginning to take hold.
I have been giving this a lot of thought. I will only be an emerging artist once, and I don't want to waste this opportunity by rushing headlong into everything that comes my way. At the same time, I know myself well enough to realise that I work better when I have some definite targets to aim towards.
The penny only really dropped in June about where my work was heading, which meant I only just managed to make enough work for the final show. I don't have a body of work sitting behind me ready for the next exhibition or opportunity. So, for the next few months, my priority is actually quite simple: make work.
I want to spend some time making and testing new ideas within the working methodology that emerged during my MA — Contour Vessels informed by a line from place, exploring the connection to landscape and the emotional resonance of memory and place. I want to push this work further, see where it can go and, importantly, give myself the time to develop it properly rather than constantly working towards the next deadline.
There are already a few opportunities I am considering for next year, including BCB Fresh and the International Ceramics Festival Emerging Artist opportunities. Even if I am unsuccessful, I think the discipline of working towards these applications will be valuable. They give me something to aim for and, hopefully, a reason to keep developing the work.
For now, I have also decided not to participate in ceramic fairs. I don't feel quite ready for that yet and, after the intensity of the MA, I am conscious of not putting unnecessary pressure on myself. It is something I can revisit in the future.
Gallery representation is another area I would quietly like to explore. Having previously run Fosse House Gallery, I am familiar with the gallery environment from the other side of the equation, but approaching established galleries at a level where they might consider representing my work is a very different proposition — and one which is completely new to me.
There is a lot for me to learn about how that process works, when the right time might be to approach a gallery and, perhaps most importantly, whether my work is ready for that level of representation. It does feel a little like a chicken-and-egg situation — do I need to establish myself through exhibitions and opportunities before approaching galleries, or does gallery representation help to create those opportunities? I suspect there isn't a straightforward answer, and perhaps this is something I will gradually work out as my practice develops.
This week I have also returned to my sketchbook, which feels encouraging. Ideas and thoughts are beginning to emerge again, and I can already feel the familiar impatience to get my hands back into clay.
I know myself. I could spend weeks happily filling sketchbooks with ideas, but eventually I will become desperate to start making them. There is something about actually working with clay that settles me. Once I am making, the impatience disappears and I become calm and focused. Making has always been a very mindful process for me — a way of stepping away from all the noise and madness outside the studio and simply being present with the work.
So perhaps this period of not making has been useful after all.
Six weeks felt far too long at first.
But perhaps I needed the space to step back, take stock and think about what comes next.
Now I think I am ready to get my hands dirty again.
The student chapter has closed. The next one is waiting to be written.
