CLAY THERAPY....

Why pottery and Ceramics are trending now

Pottery and ceramics are enjoying their moment in the spotlight right now. With surprising celebrity fans including Brad Pitt and Leonardo di Caprio, Instagram and YouTube is heaving with #pottery videos of people showcasing their throw down skills online.

Credited with mood enhancing and mindfulness qualities, TV shows like Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down have also helped boost people’s interest in private throwing classes and sculpture workshops. While rare vases can often sell for millions of euros, the true beauty of everyday ceramics and pottery is that it is both accessible to create and buy for home potter enthusiasts.

In March this year, Mud Ireland opened a pottery studio at the Portadown Wellness Centre to help people struggling with anxiety, loneliness and mental health. While in April the Design & Crafts Council Ireland launched Get Ireland Making - a series of online workshops to connect the public with the craft community.

There is a long-time tradition of master potters and ceramicists on the island. Fragments of coil pots dating from 6,000 BC, the oldest ever found in Ireland, were discovered at a Neolithic tomb in Killaclohane, Co. Kerry in 2015, while the fine ware industry date back to the late 17th century. SIOBHÁN BREATNACH goes behind the potter’s wheel to meet three creatives whose spectacular work you should look out for on your travels.

The first time ceramic artist & designer Claire Murrdock saw someone working at the wheel she was completely mesmerised. Having first become interested in ceramics at school, her interest in the artform has only continued to grow. “I always loved art but I first became interested in ceramics at GCSE level. I coiled and hand-built this very large teapot with a cat on the lid and tail around the side,” she says. “I did very little clay work during my last two years at grammar school but after A-levels I went to a technical college in Ballymena to do a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design were I worked with clay a little bit more.” From there she applied to the University of Ulster Art College in Belfast, graduating with a degree in Contemporary and Applied Art specialising in Ceramics in 2013. “In our very first weeks there we received a wheel throwing demo from our tutor Clive,” she says. “It was the first time I had ever seen anyone working on a wheel and I was mesmerised. “I said to myself that day I must learn how to do this. Since then almost all of my work has been wheel-based.”

As a contemporary crafts person, Claire is known for her distinctive large-scale moon jars and tableware, made from a variety of clays. Each piece is fired in a gas reduction kiln best suited to her choice of tenmoku, celadon and blue chun glazes. “I am always complimented for my tidiness and finish. I have a very calculated and considered way of working and I enjoy testing and researching early on to try and iron out any potential flaws and control the final outcome as best I can,” Claire says. “I think it’s fair to say I am a perfectionist and I always strive for perfection but knowing I will never find it in ceramics endears me all the more and drives my passion for clay all the further.”

Her work, she adds, takes two very different paths. “My large scale wheel-thrown moon jars are intended to come across as strong robust statement pieces and my wheel-thrown tableware is intended for everyday use, to be beautiful objects but functional and comfortable to use.” A move towards personalisation and handmade products is behind pottery and ceramics increasing popularity, Claire believes. “People are beginning to value handmade products more and more. They can engage with a piece more if it’s made by hand particularly if it is a piece that someone has got made especially as it’s more personal and individual to them and their tastes. “A piece from Ikea just wouldn’t have the same feel, comfort and character as one made by hand.”

For those looking to expand beyond the superb talents of Irish potters, Claire has some favourites. “Potters like Adam Buick and his astoundingly beautiful moon jars, Svend Bayer and his uniquely wood fired pots and Lisa Hammond who is known for her beautiful salt and soda fired pots,” she says. “Walter Keeler is also known for his reinvention of the language of functional ceramics with his thrown and altered tableware forms and lastly Takashi Yasuda for his luscious thrown porcelain and celadon glazes.”

Irish ceramics and pottery continues to change, says the Ballymena, Co. Antrim based artist. “On one hand pottery has become more accessible with more pop-up classes, more local potters emerging, and supplies readily available. “There’s also some degree of clay education still in primary and secondary schools, more craft and trade fairs, and more to date, programmes such as The Great Pottery Throw Down raising the profile and awareness. “On the other hand further education in ceramics like the degree course I did at the University of Ulster in Belfast is closing down, sadly, as it wasn’t getting the intake numbers. This seems to be a growing issue as other degree courses have also closed or are closing down.”

Not yet a full-time maker, Claire expects it will take another year before she can give up her other job where she works three days a week in a pottery supply warehouse. Having spent almost 10 years studying and making with clay and a wheel, she is now focusing on growing her business and customer base.

“Starting out, unless you have a lot of money it is very difficult,” she says. “Equipment and materials and overheads are costly. To try and break even I needed to have another job and wage to fall back on because pottery sales aren’t always consistent all year.

“To make a successful living, especially if you try to do it all yourself and can’t afford to pay anyone else to help, you need a quality product to sell that people want to buy and good technical. Making your own glazes helps and saves a lot of money. Having a scientific and mathematical min as well as kiln and firing experience and skills really helps.

“Understand your niche and market and where your works fits. Good communication, networking and social media skills also helps in this day and age as does marketing, photography and display interpretation. “You should also have a website where you can promote and sell your work,” she adds. “I wouldn’t class myself as a professional potter but the advice I would give to anyone looking to go from amateur to professional pottery would be to prepare yourself for a lot of hard graft, early mornings, late nights and to be more than just a potter.”

ARTISTS TO WATCH

Etaoin O’Reilly

Etaoin O’Reilly is currently undertaking a visual artist residency in An Táin Art Centre in Co. Louth.

At the end of the residency in September she will be putting on a solo show called The Thriving Flower - a new body of work made throughout her residency. She is also taking part in the Ceramics Ireland Members Exhibition in Dublin Castle in August.

Having studied at the National College of Art and Design she won the overall Student Future Makers Award for her degree show work The Buggaplants in 2014.

That led to an internship in London with renowned potter Kate Malone. Bright colour, playfulness and the eccentric artistic movement of the 60s and 70s are O’Reilly’s biggest sources of inspiration.

Aisling McElwain

This Kilkenny city awardwinning artist is taking part in the Ceramics Ireland Triennial Exhibition opening in Dublin in August.

Having graduated from the DCCOI Ceramics Skills and Design Course in 2016, she set up Aisling McElwain Ceramics later that same year where she creates classic pieces with a contemporary feel by hand.

A former GIS technician working on web mapping applications, her work continues to be inspired by geology.

In 2018, McElwain won the Image Interiors award for best tableware, of which she currently has two ranges available – Slate and Jade.