Linda Southwell 3

Emerging Potters – 24 Linda Southwell July - September 2021

The installation has had a fundamental influence on her work. Starting to look at it in terms of component parts, rather than as a whole which has opened up a very different direction. She is also looking at using nature as part of the sculpture rather than as something to respond to. Eventually setting up a new brand called ‘Clay Experience’ specifically to promote this.

Her work has also taken a change in direction. Currently she is working on a light fitting. Some of the elements are heavily inspired by the leaf forms of the Yucca. Also framed wall pieces too that are a really great combination of materials.

The work was on show at Renishaw Hall between March to September 2020.

Website: http://www.lindasouthwell.co.uk/

The natural world is part of her. Growing up on a farm with a mother who was a gardener and a maker. Nature allows people to take time, to slowdown and watch peacefully. She wanted her work in it’s repetitive complexity to be both meditative in the making process but also for the observer. The ‘Ghosts in the Graveyard’ installation was a huge step forward where she scaled up the work and placed it in a natural environment so that there was a respectful echo of the real thing.

She worked in porcelain paper clay, which was a first for her. It gave a flexibility to the working state so she wasn’t as worried about the material being too dry or collapsing. The main ‘tree’ was made in sections that were pieced together as the kiln is relatively small. The leaves were a particular challenge as the laws of gravity simply wanted to pull them down. She had four attempts at making a central column that individual leaves were attached to, and in the end had to make ceramic struts that supported each leaf.