September 2025
w/c 1 September 2025
Clay, Support and Exploring Contrasts
Thanks to a recently awarded grant from Art Friends Warwickshire, this week I’ve been able to stock up on clay and stains ready for the next module of my Ceramics Master’s at the University of Lancashire in Preston as I step into my second year (scary!). I’m so grateful for this support, which allows me to push forward with fresh energy.
In my home studio, my thoughts have been circling around the idea of contrasts within people - those opposing qualities that rise to the surface no matter how much we try to hide or dismiss them. Our experiences, memories and even our imagined moments often hold this tension: softness and strength, vulnerability and resilience, freedom and restraint.
Through my current body of work, I’m seeking to embody these contrasts in clay. Textured surfaces set against smooth planes, the play of light and shadow and the merging of organic flow with measured control all find their place in the work. In essence, it’s about allowing the rule breaker to sit alongside the rule maker - both equally present, both shaping the whole.
While the current second-year students were busy making final preparations for the MA Degree Show, I began a new maquette using the coloured clay reclaimed from last week’s abandoned piece. This time the form flowed more easily from my mind through my hands. Pursuing my thoughts on contrast, I scored a simple line pattern onto the surface, showing the contour of place. Once bisque fired, I hope to apply engobe to soften and calm the surface, reflecting the emotional connections I am trying to convey - fingers crossed the firing goes to plan.
The week closed with the private view for the MA Degree Show at the University of Lancashire. The gallery was buzzing, with graduating students sharing their final work and soaking up well-deserved praise. The ceramic pieces commanded centre stage in the gallery space - truly fantastic work. Huge congratulations to everyone involved and especially to Ruth Burnham, Debbie Buxton, Sally Edmundson, Kim Stuttard and Thora Talling - photographs of their work to follow soon as I was too busy enjoying myself and totally forgot to take any!
Of course, the MA Show is culmination of 2 years of hard work, sweat, laughter and at time tears by those involved. All of this could only have been achieved with the help and guidance of Rob Parr the course tutor and Cath Criscenti our very kind and tolerant technician.
This week also saw the final goodbye to the fantastic AA2A Artists in Residence in the ceramics department at the University of Lancashire - Stef Kerek, Amy Grogan, Aliyah Hussain and Marielle Hehir.
The ceramics department suddenly feels quiet and almost hollow, the recent bustle and energy now temporarily gone. In just a couple of weeks my own second year will begin, alongside a new cohort of first-year students as they embark on their own rollercoaster journeys. A few months later, the AA2A artists in residence will join, bringing fresh perspectives and new momentum. All of this will unfold under the steady guidance and gentle encouragement of Rob Parr and Cath Criscenti - and I truly can’t wait.
What’s Inspiring Me This Week
Nadia Stieglitz - Her sculptural ceramics embrace tension and harmony, embodying contrasts that resonate with my own explorations.
Monika Debus - I keep returning to her work; the way she captures depth and movement on surfaces feels endlessly inspiring, reminding me how subtle shifts in texture and tone can hold profound meaning.
w/c 8 September 2025
Gathering Focus
I decided to work from my home studio this week, hoping the quieter pace would help calm the racing thoughts swirling in my head and give me space to focus on the direction of my next body of work. The new term officially begins at the end of this month and with it comes the build-up to our next assessment in January, which is a critical moment as it’s the last one before the final degree show next year.
Looking back at the work I submitted for my last assessment, two forms continue to resonate most strongly with me: No. 5, a vessel-like sculpture and No. 8, a freestanding sculptural form. It feels natural - even obvious - to use these as a starting point for this next phase of exploration. All of the pieces in that module drew from one section of the contour of where I live, so I’m curious to see how working with the next sections of the same contour might influence the forms that emerge.
With great enthusiasm, I coloured 5kg of dry clay using Nano NC025 Spring stain… and then promptly chickened out of using it! It felt a bit like opening a brand-new sketchbook - that terrifying first page. For now, I’ve set it aside until I find my ‘big girl pants’ and instead have been working on small exploratory maquettes building from the ideas in Form No. 5. In parallel, I’m still sketching possible surface treatments, continuing my search for ways to express connections to place and memory through form and texture.
Finally, I want to give a huge shout-out to Susan Halls and her exhibition at this year’s British Ceramics Biennial. Over the past six months, it’s been a privilege to witness the ups and downs and the sheer dedication that has gone into bringing this exhibition together. I can’t wait to see it in person very soon.
w/c 15 September 2025
Stepping Into Second Year
My ‘big girl pants’ definitely came out of the drawer this week as we settled into our new university workspace. From next week I’ll officially be a second-year student - alongside Max and Lucy - and I must admit, it feels a little bit grown up!
With that sense of excitement and momentum, I also decided to begin building Form No. 12 using the coloured clay I mixed recently. Admittedly, it was still far too wet, but in my eagerness to seize the moment of confidence, I pressed ahead anyway - which resulted in a rather sticky mess. For now, I’ve left the form covered to firm up and I’ll return to refine it properly next week.
Friday evening brought another highlight: the announcement of the British Ceramics Biennial Award Prize. Huge congratulations to Jo Taylor, who took the award. Jo was incredibly generous with her time earlier this year when I interviewed her in March for my MA Research in Context assignment. Our conversation was fascinating, inspiring and hugely informative - one of those moments of generosity that stays with you. It’s wonderful to see her hard work recognised with such a prestigious award.
w/c 22 September 2025
Breakthroughs in Colour and Connection
What a difference a week can make. I’ve been genuinely excited by the results of my high-fired coloured clay test tiles - those I made a few weeks ago and finally got to see in their finished state. Between these and my ongoing sketchbook explorations, it feels as though some of my ideas are finally starting to gel. Holding onto these fleeting moments of clarity is important, because it’s these emotional connections I truly seek to capture in my work.
Much of my sketchbook time this week has been spent exploring mark-making, colour and layered surface treatments. It’s here that my background in graphics comes through strongly - I find myself drawn to rhythm, repetition and the balance between bold, clear elements and softer, more organic gestures. Bringing these instincts into clay has been both challenging and liberating, pushing me to consider how colour and mark might speak together across a form.
I’ve also spent many hours refining form No. 12, in preparation to begin adding tapered ribbons when I’m next in the university studio. This piece is inspired by the spring verge outside my home, so I plan to incorporate spring greens, bright yellow for the buttercups and white for the tall, willowy yarrow. The challenge, as always, is how to translate that sense of place and fleeting memory onto the clay surface.
My experiments have also taken me back into the glaze room, where fellow student Max shared a Gordon Baldwin recipe for a transparent matte glaze. I’m hopeful this may offer the subtle yet rich surface quality I’ve been searching for.
Another delivery from Corby Kilns - made possible by the Award from Art Friends Warwickshire - also arrived this week. Opening a box of fresh materials and tools always brings a rush of possibility and excitement.
We’ve welcomed the new first-year students into the studio this week and I’m looking forward to getting to know them, their work and their ambitions. It’s energising to feel new voices entering the space, though it still feels a little strange without last year’s second-year students around.
And perhaps most unexpectedly, this week I discovered that Pippin Drysdale had started following me on Instagram. Her work, with its breathtaking depth of colour and texture, is deeply inspirational - something I can only aspire to in my own explorations.
