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View Image Gallery Ingrid Saag(Full member)

Tel: 07917 608 218   Email:   Web: www.ingridsaag.com  

Artists Statement

There are several sources of inspiration for my work. The natural world has always been a favourite subject. My regular walks in Isabella Plantation, a garden in Richmond Park with its woodland streams, water plants and florescent rhododendrons and azaleas, inspired the designs for the Isabella series of vases.

I never tire of portraying the female form, which I often use when I explore themes of romance, love, lust, and other human emotions and feelings through poetry and other written material. The poetry of Pablo Neruda has been a huge inspiration in this area. On the larger work the painting and poetry is sometimes carried to the inside of the pot.

Another favourite subject has been the use of simple abstract patterns, such as checks or stripes, a perfect way to indulge in my exploration of and play with colour. This developed from my habit of testing every new material in different ways and combinations on test tiles. Some of my test tiles are like mini abstract paintings, which act as inspiration for future work.

Clear, vivid colours, an integral feature of my work, were probably instilled into my psyche during my childhood growing up in the tropics. Colour has a powerful therapeutic action, which can have a healing and rebalancing effect for both the artist and the viewer. Every day we take in colour energy in various forms through the clothes we wear, from the colour schemes in our homes and offices, and even by the colour of the foods we eat. For example, blue has a calming influence, relieves inflammation and can be helpful for dealing with hypertension and insomnia. Orange is the colour of imagination, vital energy and optimism, which can stimulate the respiratory system and an under active thyroid gland. While yellow, the colour of the mind and intellect, can promote clear thinking, the ability to think on a philosophical level, and also stimulate the lymphatic system and intestinal tract.

It is possible that the colours I am attracted to use on any particular day are an emotional or psychological response related to how I am feeling at the time. 

Although my medium is ceramics, my work has drawn more from painting. On some of the more complexly painted larger vases, I can use more than 40 different colours. Many of my pots are one offs. I could no more make large quantities of the same vase, than a painter would want to paint 50 or 100 similar paintings. Why repeat oneself when there is so much more to discover?

Current Work

I make hand painted decorative and functional white earthenware ceramics. Designs are either one-offs or produced in small editions, and painted with abstract or figurative images, poetry and other written material.

I accept private and corporate commissions. In 2007 I was commissioned by SBFI (Specialised Banking Furniture International) to produce three large vases. Two were for their newly refurbished show room, the third was to be a corporate gift to their client Morgan Stanley for their UK headquarters at 20 Bank Street, Canary Wharf.

Work Generally Available from:
Cecilia Colman Gallery, 67 St John’s Wood High Street, London N8 7NL
Byard Art, Cambridge 
Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London
The Birdcage Interiors, Godalming, Surrey
Iona House Gallery, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 ITF
New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PS

Technical Information

Most of my work is at present made in moulds that I have designed, by casting with Limoges white earthenware casting slip. Some pieces are altered after removal from the mould.  On some work, I paint with a combination of coloured slips, underglazes and glazes, using brushes, pens, pencils and chalks. A semi matt or glossy transparent glaze is sprayed on to finish. Other work may simply be decorated with brush on glazes.

Biscuit firing can be to cone 06-04, with the glaze firing to cone 03 (1075oC with one hour’s soak) in an electric kiln. Alternatively, depending on glazes used, other work is biscuit fired to cone 04 and glaze fired to cone 05. Some pots go through a third firing with additions of a little lustre or low temperature glaze.

Career Background

Ingrid was born and grew up in Georgetown, Guyana.
From 1970-74 she attended Hornsey College of Art and Brighton Polytechnic (now Brighton University), attaining a Diploma in Art and Design, equivalent to a BA degree. This led to a busy career for some 20 years as a freelance illustrator, with clients including Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer, IBM, The Natural History Museum, British Rail, National Rivers Authority, Time Life and Readers Digest.

From 1985, in spare time from her illustration practice and bringing up her young son, Ingrid began to develop skills with clay, studying under established figures in the pottery field, such as Jill Crowley, Caroline Wyman and Tessa Fuchs. She began to exhibit and sell her ceramics in 1994.

In 1998 Ingrid took a break from ceramics for five years to study and practise complementary health therapies. In 2003 she returned to ceramics, enrolling at South Thames College to refresh and further her skills. She achieved a BTEC Professional Development in Ceramics qualification a year later.

Ingrid set up her studio in November 2005, from where she spends every spare minute making pots. Much of her work has been sold privately to clients in the UK, Germany and USA.

Memberships

Professional Member of the Craft Potters Association

Exhibitions and Craft Fairs

2012 Christmas Cracker – Byard Art, Cambridge
2012 Handmade in Britain 12 – Chelsea Old Town Hall, Chelsea
2012 Figure – Gallerytop, Matlock, Derbyshire
2012 18th Pottery and Ceramics Festival – Art in Clay, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
2012 Figurative Exhibition – Cecilia Colman Gallery, St Johns Wood, London

2011 Oxford Ceramics Fair – St Edwards School, Oxford
2011 Haut en Couleurs – Galerie du Don, Le Don du Fel, Auvergne, France
2011 17th Pottery and Ceramics Festival – Art in Clay, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
2011 Guest Artist at Afric Art – Brighton Open Houses, Brighton
2011 Showcase at Contemporary Ceramics Centre (April)

2010 MADE 10 - Corn Exchange, Brighton
2010 London Potters Selected - The Orangery, Holland Park, London
2010 Art in Clay - Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
2010 Ceramics South East - Aylesford Friary, Kent
2010 Spring Rarefind, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey

2009 Christmas Exhibition, Jenny Granger Gallery, Whitstable, Kent
2009 The 13th Southern Pottery and Ceramics Show - The Maltings, Farnham, Surrey
2009 Ceramics in the City - Geffrye Museum, London
2009 Art in Clay - Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
2009 London Potters Selected - Ice House, Holland Park, London
2008  Christmas Show with Victoria Dark - Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth
2008  The 12th Southern Pottery and Ceramics Show - The Maltings, Farnham
2008  Ceramics in the City, Geffrye Museum
2008  Spring Into Summer 2008, Alexander Gallery, Brighton
2008  The Launch - The Green Tree Gallery, Haywards Heath
2008  Art in Clay, Hatfield House
2007  Brighton Craft Fair
2007  Ceramics in the City – Geffrye Museum, London
2007  Landmark Arts Centre Midsummer Fair
2006  London Potters 20th Anniversary Open Exhibition - Morley Gallery, London
2006  Ceramics In The City - Geffrye Museum, London
2006  Selected - London Potters 20th Anniversary - Ice House, Holland Park, London

Profile Image

Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk -

View Image Gallery Selected Images

Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - The Queen, 2008. Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - 2011. Mango Pickers, Matt
Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - 2011. Nude in Landscape Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - 2012. Dora Maar, small vase
Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - 2011. Mango Pickers, matt Ceramics by Ingrid Saag at Studiopottery.co.uk - Salsa, 2006.

Contact Details

Studio Address: Kingston Upon Thames, London, England, KT1.
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Telephone: 07917 608 218
Email:
Web-site: www.ingridsaag.com

Availability: I am happy to meet anyone by prior arrangement.

Joined on: 2008-01-09
Last Updated: 2012-11-26

Events featuring this potter

Art in Clay - Hatfield House : Art in Clay 2013
July 05, 2013 to July 07, 2013

Work styles:

Earthenware
Slip cast
Painterly
Vases & Bowls
Sculptural
Kitchen & Tableware
Figurative
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