The Clay College Gallery, Stoke on Trent, will continue to host a curated collection of the students’ best output , alongside process work and development pieces between 21st July – 6th September.
Clay College Graduate Showcase
This summer, Clay College Stoke will be exhibiting the work of their 14 full-time Diploma students in their Graduate Showcase. The exhibition marks the culmination of two years of technical study and creative exploration in clay and will be exhibited for sale in both Stoke on Trent and at The Department Store, Brixton! Don’t miss your chance to view, discuss and buy from these emerging makers at the forefront of the next wave of studio pottery.
Register your attendance at the private view of the exhibition here:
Stoke-on-Trent, Friday 17th July, 5-8:30
London, Thursday 30th July, 6-9
All photos taken by Adam Grüning
Rachel
Berry
web – www.rbpots.com
socials – @rbpots
email – rachel@rbpots.com
Having grown up between Singapore and London, ideas of comfort and belonging naturally find their way into my practice. I make pieces that feel familiar, worn in and comfortable – pots that settle into everyday life.
There is a quiet beauty in utilitarian objects which have been shaped by time and use, and I try to respond to this in my work through soft forms and subtle surfaces. Drawing on the material qualities of Buncheong ware – traditional Korean pottery characterised by a white slip over a dark clay body – I work with an iron-rich Staffordshire marl and simple white slip. I have also enjoyed exploring the qualities of porcelain and its fired surfaces through a range of drinkware.
The forms I have chosen to make reflect some of the ways in which I live, and the things that I enjoy using. I imagine the bowls serving a group of friends, being passed over the table in a family-style meal. The wide-bottomed mugs full of hot cocoa. And jugs, so often used for flowers these days, would bring the outside world in. I want to make pots that people reach for because they feel like home.
Gareth
Bromley
web – www.garethbromley.co.uk
socials – @_garethbromley
email – hello@garethbromley.co.uk
All the pots for this exhibition began as Stoke clay from an abandoned tile clay pit, which I dug and processed by hand. Thrown and manipulated softly, with loosely poured slips and glazes, they have been fired in both soda and electric kilns.
I am drawn to the flotsam and jetsam of history: the damaged and left behind. My methods of making aim to foreground the qualities I find so endearing in neglected utilitarian objects: the way pewter dents and buckles; the patina of metalwork left too long outside; the richness and variety of colour in antique bricks. These are not things that have been confined behind glass, venerated and untouched, but have lived amongst the messiness of everyday lives. In opening up a space for the overlooked to be noticed, my pots pay homage to such objects, in all their warmth, vulnerability and humanity.
Originally from Bristol, with a background in History and Social Anthropology, I have lived across the UK, in China, and South Korea, where I undertook a pottery apprenticeship. I am now establishing a workshop and teaching space at Bank Street Studios in Sheffield.
Emily
Davidson-Brett
web – www.emilydavidsonbrett.co.uk
socials – @_emilydavidsonbrett
email – emilydavidsonbrett@gmail.com
In a world saturated with objects it is hard to excuse making more. Making pots to me is an invitation to stay poised and curious in my understanding of being; a balance, dance and harmony between chemistry and craft.
My work is focused on, but not limited to, soda fired pottery. I have found myself entranced by anagama style cross-draft kilns; this led me to design a cross-draft kiln to explore how materials respond to soda introduced to the kiln in a similar way. The flame carries the soda mixture through the kiln like water through a babbling brook, painting a memory of its path across the ware.
My pots are generous and sensual, echoing the aesthetic opulence of indulgent periods of European architecture and design, while admiring British studio pottery, brought together and celebrated by the alchemy of atmospheric firing. They are made to amplify the space that they are in, and I hope to make pots that expand the ceramic landscape.
I intend to continue firing and researching in a cross-draft soda kiln after graduating.
These two years have been expansive, transformative and most of all liberating.
Laurent
Haquin
socials – @_petitpots
email – laurenthaquin@icloud.com
We write with our hands.
Writing invites a pause, we connect with the person we are writing to and that which our heart desires to share.
It takes time, a good deal of time.
I chose to write with clay and a body of work emerged. It spoke of something broken, altered yet with an admirable presence, something altogether ancient.
My story has been told before yet it is unmistakably mine.
I once thought artists were out there.
I had not seen that the artist is in here.
Like the child in the playground whose little voice says: “will you be my friend?”, I ask you what is your story…
Moi c’est Laurent et toi?”
Rachel
Jeffree
web – www.racheljeffree.co.uk
socials – @racheljeffree.ceramics
email – racheljeffree.ceramics@gmail.com
My background is in engineering, so I have a keen eye for detail and precision. I find technical accuracy satisfying and enjoy the challenge presented by different clay bodies. I discovered a passion for expressive decoration in Earthenware; in Stoneware, more energetic throwing; and in Porcelain, a luminosity which radiates the depth, clarity and vibrancy of colour. Above all, it is colour that captivates me.
I am inspired by experiences of natural landscapes, drawn to the unexpected colours found in the wilds. I am moved by fleeting moments in time; dramatic oranges and pinks of sunsets; vivid yellows, greens and purples of wildflowers; and ethereal teals and blues of coastal landscapes.
Nature is full of contrast, and contrast is important in my work. I find confidence and incredible joy in combining fluid slip decoration with precise forms. My application is a focused layering of techniques, and yet purposefully free. Pieces are dipped, shaken, brushed, trailed and splashed, making each one unrepeatable. My work reflects my delight in finding the unanticipated pockets of intense colour in our natural world.
Seetal
Kusbia
web – www.seetalkusbia.com
socials – @seetalkusbia
email – seetalkusbia@gmail.com
I grew up around tables set with intention. Every meal a ceremony, a gathering, an expression of care. That care has followed me into clay.
Making beautiful things for the joy of it is its own quiet act of generosity, a chance to share something I love.
The closest I can get to describing my making is organised chaos: sketchbook pages liberated from their spines, nothing quite still. Ink lines overlapping, delicately carving out the form before I’ve found it myself. Each movement informs the next, until my hands are simply following something that’s already there.
I find myself chasing that same energy through every flourish I work into my pots — each one different, alive and moving.
And for me, its home is in porcelain: luminous, fluid, strong enough to hold everything I throw at it.
Jessica
Lambe
web – www.jessicalambe.com
socials – @jessicalambepottery
email – hello@jessicalambe.com
I initially studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, where I developed an interest in ceramics through an exploration of form, material, and process. This early focus on material led me towards creating functional pottery intended to be used and enjoyed within everyday rituals.
My practice centres on thrown and altered stoneware pots that balance utility with tactile presence. Slip plays a central role in my work, bringing softness and liveliness to the surfaces while retaining the durability and strength of stoneware.
During my time at Clay College, I have valued the creative autonomy to develop my own ideas and deepen both my practical and technical understanding of pottery. I have been particularly drawn to atmospheric firing methods, including soda and salt firing, alongside experimenting with combustible materials in saggars to create rich and varied surface qualities in a gas kiln.
I would like to express my gratitude to my family and Adopt a Potter for the bursary that made my studies at Clay College possible.
Rosie
Marchewka
web – www.rosiemarchewka.co.uk
socials – @rosiemarchewka
email – rosiemarchewkapots@gmail.com
Taking cues from folk crafts from both my Eastern European and English heritage, as well as being informed by my background in Fine Art, I aim to make pots that have a painterly feel to them- not just in surface but also in form. Within this, I have tried to create my own vernacular of shapes and symbols that reflect my influences- suns and flowers meeting abstracted lines and playful proportions.
During my time exploring atmospheric firings at Clay College, I discovered joy in allowing the kiln to dictate my outcomes, and saw it as an opportunity for unpredictability and spontaneity to become part of every step of the making process. Through many soda firings for this exhibition, I have been brought joy and disappointment. However, I feel it is this part of the process that draws me back to it over again.
After Clay College, I would like to continue atmospheric firing in both soda and wood, with the aim to one day build my own kiln.
Jacob
Parrett
web – www.jacobparrett.co.uk
socials – @jacobparrettpots
email – jacobparrettpots@gmail.com
I feel a strong bond with nature which is reflected in my direct connection to the earth through clay. Throughout my work, I chase the feelings and asymmetries I find in objects discovered whilst out walking. These fascinations have deepened as my practice has grown. I consider the clay’s qualities and raw energy when matched with mine; working with this when throwing, building, tearing and pushing until I read the form in a way that makes sense.
Overall, I am aiming for both a sculptural and functional balance to which people can relate. Atmospheric firings echo the energy and immediacy of my objects. I enjoy having to read the flame and connect with the pace of the firings so that, at best, the qualities of clay and flame work together in a transformative dance, pulling those objects together.
In the future, my aim is to build relationships with other potters and continue to grow my knowledge of both wood and soda firing. One day I aim to build my own kiln.
Hattie
Perry
web – www.hattieperryceramics.com
socials – @hattieperryceramics
email – hattieperryceramics@gmail.com
Over the past two years, I have been drawn to simplicity in form, gentle curves, and lines that quietly echo the natural world. Having grown up in British Columbia, Canada, and spending much of my time in the Scottish Cairngorms, I feel most at peace in nature — a sense of calm that I hope is present in my pieces.
My work is made to be used and held, creating pieces that quietly invite a pause within everyday routines. I enjoy thinking about the function of my pots; however, more than this, I am fascinated by how others interpret their use and fit my pieces into their lifestyle. I find this to be the lasting point of connection between the maker, the pot, and the user.
I am drawn equally to electric firing and the atmospheric nature of wood firing. While electric firing allows me to refine finish with intention and precision, wood firing fosters a deep connection to the firing process, and introduces a tension between control and unpredictability; something which continues to fascinate me.
After Clay College, I will be setting up my studio in the Scottish Highlands, where I will continue to develop forms and finish. I look forward to growing my knowledge and instincts in wood-firing and aspire to build my own kiln in the future.
Fiona
Reid
web – www.fionamayceramics.com
socials – @fionamayceramics
email – fionamayceramics@gmail.com
I am a studio potter from Cumbria with a background in art history and painting conservation. Before I joined Clay College I was running my own pottery business. I make pots inspired by the feeling I have whilst being out in the open spaces of the Lake District.
It is important to me to make functional ware. I want my pots to be generous and create a connection between landscape, the pots and the people who use them. My process incorporates hand built and wheel thrown techniques, the combination chosen to achieve a balance reflective of the natural world. Each stage of my making intuitively informs the next with pots built from layers of slip and layered glazes. I enjoy how the application invites a thoughtful curiosity, requiring an intuitive connection with the form and previous layers with the aim to create a softness and depth.
After Clay College, I will return to Cumbria to establish my home studio. I hope to make a range of domestic ware that quietly embeds into daily life; pots that sit comfortably in the home and the hand.
Quay
Tran
web – www.quaytranpottery.co.uk
socials – @quaytranpottery
email – quaytranpottery@gmail.com
My time at Clay College has been transformative in the way I make, view, interact and design pottery. I started the course with a goal of finding “a style” and looking back I can say I was a bit naive in what I thought that meant. I doubted the process at first, but with each week, each pot made, I learnt to observe, evaluate and with the help of all the tutors began to consider each process that went into each pot. Every result fed into the next batch of making in a constant feedback loop. Culminating in a selection of processes that I enjoy doing, or “my style”.
I like to think the end result has created me, a considered maker, with quiet, strong and delicate forms with continuous flowing silhouettes. I favour hard alterations, with pots starting as blanks and then further refined. I choose glazes that envelop, soften and provide depth to the surface quality.
A privilege of a maker is to create items that you want to see in the world. So the pots that I make are in a way a reflection of my lifestyle, affecting the size, shape, use and glaze chemistry that I find interesting and like. I hope you like them as well.
Colin
Turnbull
web – www.turnbullceramics.com
socials – @turnbull.ceramics
email – colin.p.turnbull@gmail.com
I’m interested in making things that are meant to be used every day. A mug for morning coffee, plates for a shared meal. These are small, simple moments, but the objects at the heart of them can take on a lot of meaning over time. That’s what drives my work. I try to match that simplicity by keeping my forms straightforward and only leaving behind subtle traces of the handmaking process.
I draw inspiration from minimal and geometric shapes of mid-20th century modern design, as well as purely functional commercial products of that era: mass-produced enamelware and restaurant ware that were designed to withstand repeated use. I find it deeply satisfying to trace how each design choice came from a specific problem that needed solving. I then push certain features, like big, rounded rims and large handles to offer a friendlier look. There’s a quiet playfulness in the way the exaggerated proportions look and feel in your hand. I like to think of them as objects designed for children, scaled-up for adult use.
Claudia
Wyatt
web – www.claudiawyattpottery.co.uk
socials – @ce_ww.pots
email – claudia.wyatt.pottery@gmail.com
Having worked as a TV journalist for the past eight years, I was drawn to pottery as a quiet refuge from the chaotic stress of my lifestyle. Ceramics became a source of balance as working with clay offered moments of stillness within the noise.
I have chosen to work in porcelain to create refined and well-balanced vessels with a simple quietness. I make my pots to be held, used and cherished. Through their gentle tactility, my pieces offer moments of peace within the rhythms of our hurried daily life.
Over the last few months at Clay College, I have been developing a celadon glaze which, when fired in a particular reduction schedule, reveals delicate crystal formations within the surface of each piece, lending each one its own unique character.
I am inspired by the dichotomy between the precision of the clean porcelain lines and the randomness of the crystalline patterns that emerge within the glaze.
When and where
OPENING WEEKEND
Clay College, Stoke on Trent
Port Street
ST6 3PE
Saturday 18th July 11am-4pm
Sunday 19th July 11am-4pm
BRIXTON SHOW
The Department Store
248 Ferndale Road
London
SW9 8FR
Friday 31st July – Sunday 2nd August
Friday, Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 10am – 4pm
We hope to see you there!