Ceramics
Hella Keevil
Hella Keevil is a ceramic artist based in Tunbridge Wells.
After a career in science, Hella re-discovered her childhood love of clay when she joined a pottery class at The Clay Studio in Barnsgate Manor. One thing led to another: she now has her own studio at home and is a member of the Kent Potters Association (KPA).
Hella loves being experimental, using stoneware from porcelain to black clay, textured and smooth. Each clay body has its own presence, with black clay lending itself to the sturdy pine tree while porcelain suits delicate nest pieces. It is exciting to bring the two together. All her work is hand built, which gives great freedom to create unusual shapes and textures.
Small Gourd
13 x 10 x 10cm
Stoneware (watertight)
£45
Joanna Terry
Joanna is a ceramicist working predominately in porcelain from her studio in Beckley, East Sussex. Joanna’s work is her visceral reaction to natures continuous renewal. Preferring to cast clay direct in the land, helping to minimise her impact on the environment and creating pure impressions of the land.
Joanna describes her process of making as a mediative experience, connecting directly with the earth. Taking on principles of Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing), taking the time to listen to what is around you, seeing what lays beneath your feet and feeling the elements touch your skin. Through her process of making she hopes to bring a piece of the landscape into each piece she creates.
Wood Sage Tea Light (large)
11 x 10 x 10cm
Parian porcelain cast at Dungeness
£75
Lorraine Singer
Taking inspiration from the natural surroundings of Sussex, Lorraine creates one-off pieces to be used and enjoyed around the home. Intrigued by the possibilities of ceramic surface decoration, she experiments with a mixture of home dug, iron-rich clay and traditional stoneware, which adds texture and patina to the forms, slips and glazes.
Pair of Carved Asymmetrical Bud Vases (Dark Blue)
Varying Dimensions
Clay
£75
Ashleigh Fisk
Ashleigh Fisk is a recent graduate of Slade School of Fine Art. Her work focuses on history, myth and folkloric traditions, seeking cyclical loops of thinking and making revealed through relics and artefacts. She uses the language of ceramics, a practise synonymous with human creation and mimesis, as human bodies and beliefs are imbued and solidified onto the clay surface throughout time.
Green glass lattice plate
21 x 21 x 2cm
Clay
£54
Zayana Ceramics
Zayana Ceramics is based in Flimwell, east Sussex, where she also teaches pottery classes. Like many potters, her work is the product of exploration, perpetual learning (& un-learning) and a daily habit of making. Her own interests centre around acting on the ‘wants’ of materials.
Unpredictable Hues
23 x 20 x 20cm
Slightly Grogged Clay
£375
Barry Dorrity
Barry Dorrity has been working with ceramics since finishing college in 1973, and after retiring from teaching, considers himself a part-time potter. He still volunteers at the school where he taught ceramics, and informally teaches a few students in his workshop, which he established in 2000 when he moved to Brusthall, near Tunbridge Wells.
Barry is mainly a thrower, making a range of one-off domestic ware that is reduction fired to 1280°c. His favourite glazes - of which he is most well-known for - are a rutile blue that he developed from a recipe in The Glaze Book by Stephen Murfitt and a tenmoku, that is a personalised version of a Daniel Rhodes glaze that he has used since working in Coventry in the 70's. In addition to his domestic ware, he enjoys modelling onto pots; most of these are inspired by landscapes he has visited.
He sells his work through exhibitions, markets, fairs and now proudly through Gallery 35.
Large Rutile & Blended Glaze Vases
Approx. 30 x 19 x 12cm
Clay
£81
Lesley Gowlett
Lesley is a local potter inspired by the natural world. She seeks to bring the colours and textures she sees in nature into everyday objects.
Large White Bowl
22 x 22 x 8cm
Clay
£40.50
Deana Moore
Deana trained at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts which was quickly followed with exhibitions in Covent Garden, Knightsbridge and New York.
After a 35 year break, she returned to ceramics. The inspirations for her work come from our forefather's simple organic forms. Her asymmetric vessels are made by coiling, but with a modern twist. She uses an earthenware clay and has developed her own glazes.
Deana lives on the borders of Kent and London and is a member of Kent Potters Association, the London Potters and is an Associate member of the Craftsman Potter's Association.
Tripod Vessel in Red Glaze
19 x 14 x 14cm
Earthenware
£450
Biddy Hobbs
Biddy gained her degree at Bath Academy of Art and then set up her first studio in London selling both there and abroad. She taught and worked there for many years.
Since moving to Tunbridge Wells in the 1980s, she has shown in various galleries in London and the South- East. Her last teaching post was at the International School in Sevenoaks as the ceramics specialist.
Having retired from teaching, she is now concentrating solely on her own work. Her work is thrown on the potter's wheel.
She loves the way that she can recreate her own drawings on the surface of the clay retaining the spontaneity and liveliness of the thrown shape. Her interest in both Chinese and Turkish pottery has influenced her work in both form and surface decoration.
She uses the sgraffito technique to carve through the surface of the dark coloured slip to reveal the original light clay beneath. Recently, she has been widening her palette of coloured slips and underglaze colours. Her pots are high fired to 1200 degrees which means that they are tough and durable.
A selection of wheel thrown stoneware bowls decorated with coloured slips and sgraffito
Range from 15 - 27cm in width
Ranging from £38 - £120
Cara and Andrew Fitzmaurice - Sparrows Nest Ceramics
Cara and Andrew Fitzmaurice live in rural West Cornwall. Their studio is located in a barn at their home, which they share with several sparrow families who return to nest every year. They are witness to the flora and fauna in the meadows and woodland there, inspiring much of their work.
Cara and Andrew’s slow made pieces celebrate their surroundings, often being made from local St. Agnes stoneware clay. Even the brush-heads used are made from natural fibres foraged by Cara. All their work is made by traditional hand building, through rolling out clay into slabs, folding, coiling and pinching. The work is then air dried, fired twice, and hand glazed to build up layers. The full process can take up to 4 weeks. Some pieces are made using primitive techniques such as raku, smoke firing, saggar and surface marking with natural materials such as seaweed and locally-foraged materials.
In a world of mass produced objects Sparrows Next Ceramics create space for the joy of unique, hand formed pieces.
Raku Cottage Candle Holder with St. Eval Candle
Raku
£25
Simon Guy
Simon's smoke fired pots are hand built using stoneware clay and a mix of slab rolling and throwing.
They are first bisque fired in an electric kiln to 1000 degrees centigrade then finished in a metal bin or pit dug into the ground. The pots are dressed with various organic substances including, kelp seaweed, iron, copper, barium, plant food and sometimes horse dung!! They are surrounded by hardwood sawdust and left to burn for a number of hours.
The pots are suitable for decorative use only but the insides can be treated with a sealer.
Smoke Fired Pots Raku
Range from 24 - 40cm tall, with an approximate width of 20cm
£88
Dawn Hajittofi
The theme of Dawn’s work is primarily about hope in the face of adversity. It has been influenced by her involvement in counselling and pastoral work, but is also a cathartic journey to understand and process her own history.
Each vessel represents a life story. They embody the scars and marks of our struggles yet show the hope and possibility of recovery and joy. The abstract marks and decoration symbolise the significant events we encounter and acknowledge the lasting impact they can have.
The vessels are individual and thrown in white earthenware which are then altered and marked with various indentations and small pieces are added to the surface. They are decorated using coloured slips, oxides and underglazes with a randomly applied glaze.
Gilt is also added as a reference to the Japanese art of 'Kintsugi" the restoring of a broken vessel with gold. This has become a much-loved metaphor for our lives, a reminder to stay hopeful when things fall apart and to celebrate all that we overcome.
The multi layered surfaces are tactile, inviting you to run your hands over the pieces and experience the rough, the smooth and the surprises.
'Kintsugi is not the art of erasure - the invisible mend, the erasing of a mistake - but rather the marking of a loss.' - Edmund de Waal
Three pots from the 'Life Stories' series
Range from 14 - 17.5cm tall, with a width range of 9 - 13.5cm
Ranging from £130 - £320
Susan Fields
Sue has been working in clay for over 40 years and it is not an exaggeration to assert that being a ceramicist defines who she is. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true to say that clay has been her obsession from a young age, and that the making of objects has been her chosen path of sanity through both peaceful and tumultuous times!
After completing her BA (hons) in 3D design Ceramics from Camberwell School of Art, she set up her studio in Sussex, with the aid of a Crafts Council Grant and a year long bursary which kept her afloat, whilst making connections with galleries.
Alongside her practice, she began teaching, both in schools and adult education and this has continued to be an important part of what she does. The delight of seeing a child finding their strength in creating in clay, or the adult student who feels passionate enough to set up their own home workshop reassures Sue that ceramic art has a viable and meaningful future!
Madonna Planter
21 x 21 x 10cm
Stoneware
£200
Georgina Bays
Georgina makes decorative and functional stoneware through experiments with sgraffito texture using coloured slips.
Her work is inspired by the
surrounding Kent countryside and her passion for gardening.
Blue Carved Pot & Blue Plate
Varying sizes
Stoneware
£30 & £40
Glenice Hoffmann
Glenice returned to the creative and calming activity of pottery in 2014, after a 25-year career as a parliamentary reporter and editor.
She works from her studio in East Sussex creating individual pieces, hand-built in stoneware clay by slabbing, coiling and pinching.
Glenice creates decorative, sculptural forms and objects whose shapes changes as one moves around them, inviting viewers to touch, lift and rearrange in new ways. In their line, she focuses on the geometric elements of the circle, half-circle, angle, straight line and curve, seeking to achieve a sense of depth, balance, harmony and calm. In their finish, she burnishes, polishes, smoke-fires, rakus or leaves the surface naked to produce a natural, tactile finish suggesting movement in different ways.
Initially referencing, for example, the striking lines of Hans Coper, James Oughtibridge and Barbara Hepworth, her work is influenced by her study of art history. In particular, she explores the journey from realism, perspective and balance - underway in Italy by the 15th century - to abstraction, reached at the beginning of 20th century by Franz Marc, Mondriane and, in particular, Kandinsky in his use of sharp shapes and clear linear qualities.
Textured Disc on Black Stand
25 x 21 x 13 cm (together)
White Stoneware Clay
Textured Disc £245
Black Stand £30
Roger Dwek
Roger is a ceramic artist, working from his garden studio in rural Sussex, creating unique hand crafted one-off pieces. He is inspired by the natural world, enjoying walking and spending time amongst the trees, clouds, light and sound, which fuels his creativity. His designs have a natural flow and rhythm - they are as unique as every tree, leaf and flower.
Trained in massage therapy, it is instinctive for Roger to want to create something tangible that represents natural and organic forms. The primal qualities of clay connect him to the earth, and the simple form of a bowl is the perfect starting point. Something that holds energy; functionally useful; earthy and asymmetrical, inspired by a greater force.
Roger’s signature style is to 'throw' and then to 'pinch.' Bowls are his principle creations, occasionally making a range of cups, vases, jugs, and platters. His pinch creations are facilitated by his love of music, which he listens to when working in his studio, being guided by the melodies.
Roger explains, “Most of my pots make themselves and become a meditation. I love when people hold my creations and 'feel' them. People appreciate them in a visceral sense where words are not necessary.”
A selection of bowls
Stoneware & Porcelain
Ranging from £15 - £185
Iona Green
Iona is a ceramic sculptor based in East Sussex with over 10 years of experience and a BA in Design from Goldsmiths University, London. She creates small collections of one-of-a-kind vessels and sculptures using traditional and hand-building techniques.
Her work intertwines the natural landscape and anthropology, drawing inspiration from mythology, nature, and her personal memories. Iona explores organic processes such as excavating local clay, using hair and animal bones for wood firing, or making scratch made glazes resulting in volcanic reactions between glazes and clay. Her sculptures are reflective, tactile, and contemporary with an ancient feel.
Hillside Pony Tile
Black Clay
£110
Judith Douglas
Judith is a contemporary folk artist. She trained as a textile designer and teacher in Leicester and at Goldsmiths College. She has lectured in further education and worked as an art therapist. She now produces one-off ceramic pieces. These bring together her love of pattern and natural forms. Her influences include traditional English folk art and living by the sea in Hastings, East Sussex.
Badger & Stag
Stoneware
£155 & £95