Liz’s Studio

Venue

Venue Facilities

Artist statement

I am a ceramic artist and I specialise in figurative sculpture. My figures are inspired by my observations of people, capturing a momentary action which reveals so much about their lives. They are then mounted in wooden box frames (giving them a contained space to inhabit) or a hanger/support is attached for easy display on a vertical or horizontal surface.

Extended Bio

Like many children I was fascinated by people and animals (how they looked, what they did and how they did it) and I recorded my observations in drawings. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I was not drawing– I was always sketching something on a scrap of paper or even on paving stones outside my dad's Boot and Shoe Repair Shop when paper was in short supply! I qualified at York School of Art in the late sixties and having got married, had two lovely boys, and moved several times up and down the country, I returned to sculpture when we moved to Scarborough and continued to develop my figures when we relocated to Norfolk before settling here. I mostly work with my fingers, pulling and pinching the clay until a figure begins to form, then I work on it, exploring its character. I try not to over work the figures during this process as I like to retain a lively, authentic quality, allowing full expression of their character. I believe that the fresher and more spontaneous the piece, the more accurately it conveys the original concept or thought. I want my figures to communicate memory, spirit and character, qualities which I feel are important and worth depicting and I have developed a range of techniques for finishing the pieces to enhance their innate character so that the viewer can feel their experience/humour/strength/beauty as well as see it. The result, I am told, is a sensitive portrayal of mood, thoughts, and hard-won experience, in the form and structure of each unique piece, mirroring reality and making them look ‘lived in’ but still allowing lots of room for everyone to interpret them in a way which is personal to them. I work in a variety of clays some heavily coloured & textured, others delicate paper clays which pick up applied surface pattern well. I often draw on the surface using a range of tools and pencils before firing. The clay surface, once fired, is either left as is, or cold finished using a range of techniques including pencil/crayon/pastel/chalk, or the application of a wide range of colouring media to highlight differences of form, character, or mood. The finished figures are then mounted in a wooden box frame (which gives them a contained space to inhabit) or a hanger/support is attached for easy display on the wall or flat surface I have exhibited, completed commissions, and sold work in numerous exhibitions and galleries in Yorkshire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and have taken part in North Yorkshire Open Studios and Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios - through this, I have met many delightful and interesting people many of whom have become good friends as well as customers. We moved down from Norfolk to North Devon about five years ago and my husband, David, has just completed my new studio in the back garden so I thought I should participate in Devon Open Studios this year and hopefully make new friends here as well.