Home

Home admin 2021-10-04T13:22:54+00:00

CLAY COLLEGE
STOKE

Helping the next generation

100 Years of Leach and Hamada Exhibition

Full Time Course Information

WELCOME TO CLAY COLLEGE

null

null

FIND OUT MORE

null

null

null

null

INSTAGRAM

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #U

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlightingw each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#15 Shaun McGurdy. @shaunmcgurdy

Shaun wants to make pottery that people take pleasure in using, which isn't too serious and makes them smile. Creating ceramics in a sensitive and sustainable manner is important to him. While a little unsure of the direction his work will eventually take, Shaun is interested in exploring low/mid-fired ceramics. He is currently looking at English slipware and early Islamic lustreware, and is keen on the idea of pottery as a ground for painterly decoration.

I wanted to use this project to explore the idea of making something that is both functional and sculptural. I'm currently in the process of finding clay, slips and glazes which work together and have used each cup to experiment with colour and decoration. My aim was to create something joyful - like a painting you can drink out of.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #U

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlighting each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#13 Sandra Moll. @sandralucymoll

Sandra developed a passion for clay and some foundation in hand-built ceramics through her involvement in a pottery studio in Istanbul before coming to Clay College. She aims to create a diverse range of work which is both functional and pleasing to use.
Sandra enjoys subtle and soft forms which are disrupted by a loose approach to texture and surface. Being spontaneous and playful in the studio is very important to her.

Through this project I explored different glazes and additions to clay. I fired my work in a reduction gas kiln with heavy reduction, this resulted in the clay additions rising to the surface and disrupting the glaze surface.The soothing nature of warm tea seems to call for a roundish shape, comfortable to cup one's hands around. Each tea bowl is unique through processes of texture making and surface decorating.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #U

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlightingsa each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#12 Nicola Collins. @nicolacollinsartist

These Yunomi’s are an exploration of the uniquwe landscape of Burslem Town, where industrial workshops, historical ruins and domestic spaces overlap and intertwine. Each vessel is hand built and decorated to evoke a sense of time passing. The earthenware body chosen is in reference to the seam of etruria marl that is found locally, and the surfaces are brightly coloured with terra sigillata and then deliberately ‘weathered’ with metal additions and oxides. The scarring and irregularities in each piece references the industrial past of the town whilst the vessel form ties them back to the domestic space.

Having studied contemporary art at John Moores University and Goldsmiths, Nicky has spent the last fifteen years working within art education in the South East. Within her own artistic practice, Nicky loves to explore the themes of fragmentation and decay and is currently gaining inspiration from historical buildings and industrial ruins that surround Clay College. She is currently developing a body of work that translates these ideas into clay, playing with the boundaries between fine art and functional ceramics.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #Us

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlightingsa each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#11 Natalia Kasprzycka @natajkasprzycka

Materials represent a reality of a place which is easily overlooked or forgotten. Yet, geological makeups determine how local ecologies and economies developed through time, shaping natural landscapes, industries, armed conflicts… For the Use and Ornament exhibition, I’m taking pieces of the material history of Stoke-on-Trent - marl from nearby roadworks, broken Minton tiles, ash from local ‘weeds ’- and moulding them into drinking vessels, which through their substance rather than form reflect the city’s landscape. I hope that using them will encourage a reflection on how ceramics comes to be and the conflicting stories these objects of use and beauty can encapsulate.

Natalia Kasprzycka is a Polish artist exploring the themes of circulation and transformation of matter. Investigating the idea of 'place', she works on location-specific, cognitive projects aiming to bridge a scientific approach and
artistic sensitivity. She explores the intersection between pottery, geology and memory and the relationship between ceramics and site by studying found materials like clay, rocks and ash. She is a part the Icelandic material research studio innriinnri and a QEST Scholar.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #Us

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlightingw each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#14 Sharon Lea. @sharonleaceramics

When I am throwing, I often feel a link to the rhythm of creative/destructive forces of nature. The action of wind and water at work and their visible effects on the landscape over time is something that I have spent my life observing and loving. I allow my hands to express both the rhythm and the unpredictability of those forces, creating powerful throwing lines with an element of chaos rather than regularity and pushing the vessel to a point just short of collapse.
Being aware of a vessel can profoundly affect your experience and therefore enjoyment of using it. I like the user's fingers to sit in and play with the texture of my yunomi and enjoy that connection with the maker's hands. At the rim I create a smooth, soft curve, sensitive where the lip will meet the vessel.
Tiny shards of clay from our farm are embedded into each yunomi, furthering the bond between object and maker.

Although born in Britain, Sharon grew up in the scenic South Island of New Zealand. She spent a lot of time in outdoor pursuits, encouraging a deep appreciation of the land and of the forces of nature that shaped it. She completed a degree in botany there, which created an abiding love for the NZ flora and an interest in plants in general.
In 2016, Sharon's journey with clay began: her first encounter, during an art foundation year, led to the completion of an NCFE in ceramics the following year, then on, to the first year of an Applied Arts degree at Wrexham's Glyndwr University where she gained a good grounding in handbuilding and throwing. She recognised a lean towards usable art in the form of tableware and in 2019 transferred her studies to Clay College.
She lives on a farm in Cheshire with her family and an assortment of animals.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #Us

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlightingsa each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#10 Kira Catani. @kiracatani

Before my time at Clay college, I studied art and ceramics in my home country Finland. Finland has a respected and strong history in modern design. During my studies in England I've grown to like and admire the traditional craft of British ceramics.
In my work I seek to combine and adapt both Scandinavian simplicity and traditional methods and philosophies.
I prefer working with stoneware and lately I've been studying different textured surfaces on my pots and am trying to find ways to achieve more interesting results from electric firings.

The inevitable individual differences in a handmade set of ceramic pieces is something I find beautiful and have chosen to display in my set of 12 Yunomi. The cups are made out of a stoneware clay body and glazed with a cream coloured glaze. The pieces can be bought as a tea set or as single decoration pieces for your home.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #Us

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlighting each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#7 Jessica Mason @jessicamason_ceramics

Jessica is a process-led maker with a background in textiles and metals. She grew up in Devon and was first introduced to working with clay at HollyFord Pottery before going on to study Fine Art at Chelsea College of the Arts London. Her work is focused on the sensitive interaction between maker and material. Exploring the dialogue between the plastic qualities of clay and its relationship to the user, she considers the evolution of each piece as being intrinsically linked to the rituals of functional wear. She is currently enrolled on the two-year Ceramics Diploma Course at Clay College Stoke.

A yunomi is a vessel that centres around its own usability. With this in mind, I decided to throw a simple cylinder, which I then separated into two halves whilst still soft on the wheel. The lower surface area I loosely turned away so as to reveal the haptic surface language of the clay itself. Later re-attaching the top half, this time retaining the smooth thrown qualities so as to highlight the key area required for functional use i.e. the drinking lip.

I used a clay body that was iron-rich and heavily grogged so as to intentionally increase the levels of tactility - felt by the user when holding the cup. Each Yunomi has been reduction gas-fired; some glazed with a silica rich ash glaze and others with a transparent over layers of slip.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #Us

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlighting each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#8 Jessica Turrell @jessicaturrell_ceramics

Jessica is a slipware potter who enjoys both throwing and handbuilding.
She is expressive and leans naturally towards playful exploration in her making.
She is drawn to texture and mark making.
Jessica is influenced by her roots in the Devon countryside and is working in a traditional North Devon style.

Jessica has developed these yunomi inspired beakers with her Devon heritage at the forefront of her mind. She has used traditional techniques and local foliage to decorate the beakers.
The pieces are all unique having organic imprints.

Reposted from @airspacegallery Throughout our #U

Reposted from @airspacegallery

Throughout our #UseAndOrnament exhibition we’ll be highlighting each of the @claycollege makers and their #Yunomis - each yunomi is available for sale in the Gallery or via our web shop - link in bio
—
#6 Han Nguyen. @studio.nyggen

Han Nguyen is from Denmark and used to work in the game industry where she was a game designer and artist. During a career break she discovered clay, which has since then turned into a career change when she found herself on a path that led deeper into the world of ceramics. Her work is primarily thrown domestic ware, as she finds the boundaries of functional design interesting to work within but also to challenge and push around.
With the world of games and toys still being a predominant source of inspiration, she’d like to explore how playfulness and emotional design translates into ceramics and everyday
objects.

I consider a yunomi as a cup with no handle that is higher than it is wide. I’ve taken inspiration from traditional Japanese yunomi forms and marrying them together with slipware techniques, Chinese transfer motifs and English chintz decals to create something that is a reflection of the West meets East meets West vocabulary when talking about the yunomi, which could have just as easily been described as a cup

Load More... Follow on Instagram

Avada WordPress Theme