Clay in Conversation 7: Connection

Clay in Conversation runs in partnership with the Ceramics Research Centre-UK (CREAM), University of Westminster and is held at:

University of Westminster, Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW

The curated conversations provide a platform for presentation, dialogue and discovery, bringing together a diverse range of artists with a practice using clay and ceramics.

Each conversation centres on a specific theme - acting as a lens through which the artists will present a piece of work or project. The conversations offer the opportunity to dig deeper into the work, exploring it formally, materially and conceptually, from the perspective of the artists themselves.

The presentations are followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Clay in Conversation is curated by artist Julia Ellen Lancaster @juliaellenlancaster_ceramics in partnership with the Ceramics Research Centre-UK (CREAM), University of Westminster https://cream.ac.uk/

For this seventh conversation and kicking off 2024 we are pleased to present artists Harriet Hellman and Jess Skelton

Harriet Hellman is primarily a process-led ceramic artist working in response to the environment and landscape. Having completed an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art in 2020, she has gone on to exhibit her work internationally and has been awarded ceramic residencies in Denmark, UK, Ireland and Japan. She was also shortlisted for the Sustainability First Art Prize 2021.

The process of wood firing using Anagama and soda kilns while on a residency in Denmark has taken Harriet on a new journey, allowing her to embrace the alchemy of the kiln and develop her practice both in the UK and abroad.

Harriet continues to explore ‘human’ time versus ‘deep’ time in nature, through embodied and performative making practices in ceramics, drawing, photography and film. 

@harriet_ceramics

www.harriethellman.co.uk

Jess Skelton makes abstract sculptural work, sourced in the idea and form of the vessel. Final pieces ‘emerge’ rather than being planned, through a process of disruption and risk taking. Skelton is beguiled by what lies beneath the shiny veneers society often presents us with, preferring the honesty of the shadow places and derelict spaces. She is particularly drawn to old boatyards, where she finds a kind of beauty, witnessing both the precarious existence and innovative natures, of those who live beyond the bounds of convention.

She considers herself to be consciously ‘winging it’ in the sense that her work survives being pushed to its’ limits in the making processes, then melting, collapsing and fusing in the kiln to form a final identity, which although is of her making, is ultimately beyond her control.

@jess.skelton.ceramics

www.theclayfield.org

Tessa Peters is Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Art at University of Westminster, an Associate Lecturer at CSM, a researcher, writer and independent curator. Her curatorial projects include Cultural Icons for the British Ceramics Biennial at the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, and Hove Museum & Art Gallery in 2019-2020. Since 2020 she has facilitated a series of inclusive cross-cultural dialogues, assisting an understanding of issues faced by ceramics practices in different global regions.

@UoW_CREAM            

Ceramics Research Centre-UK

Book via Eventbrite here

Clay in Conversation 6: Time is the sixth in a series of curated conversations, presenting artists working with clay and ceramics.

We are so excited to welcome and present artists Aneta Regal @anetaregal and Rebecca Appleby @rebeccaappleby7 with Tessa Peters @tessapeters2 as chair.

Booking via Eventbrite here

The curated conversations provide a platform for presentation, dialogue and discovery, bringing together a diverse range of artists with a practice using clay and ceramics. 

Each conversation centres on a specific theme - acting as a lens through which the artists will present a piece of work or project. The conversations offer the opportunity to dig deeper into the work, exploring it formally, materially and conceptually, from the perspective of the artists themselves. 

The presentations are followed by a Q&A session with the audience. 

Clay in Conversation is curated by artist Julia Ellen Lancaster in partnership with the Ceramics Research Centre-UK (CREAM), University of Westminster https://cream.ac.uk/

For this sixth conversation we are honoured to welcome and present artists Rebecca Appleby and Aneta Regal. 

Working with clay, Rebecca Appleby explores fundamental structure in architecture, nature and anatomy in her work, investigating industrial & architectural fragments metamorphosed by the ravages of time. 

Her recent work presents an organic, architectural & personal response to the overwhelming impact of trauma, disaster and redevelopment, exploring new process' and techniques to represent both pathos and moments of joy. 

Appleby also references the term stele or stela in her recent work; a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument The surface of the stele often has text, ornamentation, or both. These may be inscribed, carved or painted. Stelae were created for many reasons; for funerary or commemorative purposes, Ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. Stelae were occasionally erected as memorials to people or events. Appleby’s sculptures represent an autobiographical series of stela that commemorate and mark important personal stories, events and experiences. Appleby brings a painterly and sculptural eye to her work, which goes beyond the boundaries of her traditional background in ceramics. 

Having graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2001, Appleby worked as a teacher until 2015 when she dedicated herself fully to her artistic practice. Earlier this year, Appleby was selected as one of the ten artists to take part in the British Ceramics Biennial Award 2023 held in Stoke on Trent. 

www.rebeccaappleby.com

Aneta Regal considers herself to be part of the last generation who can vividly remember the post-communist era in Poland and its dramatic end; those times of great transition and contrast have had a great influence on her life and work since. 

Her will to expand and push beyond boundaries with a slightly rebellious attitude perhaps comes from those experiences, as well as an insatiable curiosity and aim to explore her own and her material’s limits, especially when working with clay. 

Multiple layers of the same elements in different states are repeatedly dried and re-fired, telling a story of constant metamorphosis, of conflict and change, emphasising the materials’ capacity to be modified and which perhaps equates to not only our own ontology but also on the way we interact with objects and one another. 

Working and living in London for 17 years, exploring its vibrant multicultural energy, has greatly influenced Regal, whereby her work has gradually become an eclectic mixture of elements, the result of a meeting of the past with present reality; of Western and Eastern culture. 

Themes of memory and passage of time, displacement, nostalgia for family home, childhood and the surrounding landscape and local legends are at the core of her practice. Earlier this year Regal held a much revered solo show, ‘Memory Landscape’ at Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London. 

www.anetaregal.com

Tessa Peters is Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Art at University of Westminster, an Associate Lecturer at CSM, a researcher, writer and independent curator. Her curatorial projects include Cultural Icons for the British Ceramics Biennial at the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, and Hove Museum & Art Gallery in 2019-2020. Since 2020 she has facilitated a series of inclusive cross-cultural dialogues, assisting an understanding of issues faced by ceramics practices in different global regions.

Making East London Porcelain is part of a collaborative science-led heritage project between the V&A Museum and Newham Borough of London, which has been made possible by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Capability for Collections Fund. Focusing on the celebrated Bow Porcelain Factory, this project brings communities together to explore Newham Borough as a place of creativity, experimentation and entrepreneurship in the mid-eighteenth century. Co-curated with sixth-form students from Chobham Academy (Newham) and Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School (Chelsea), the exhibition explores how heritage science and re-making practices can help us better understand the places we live today and inspire us to innovate and experiment tomorrow.

Click here to register Eventbrite