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View Image Gallery Michèle Findlay(Full member)

Tel: +44 (0)1323 891327   Email:   Web: www.clay-works.co.uk  

Artist's Statement (2004)

My work comes from inside me, the images that populate my mind are reflections of the emotions and desires of a woman. Over the years I have been driven to understand woman's spirituality as a way of understanding myself and to use my creativity to portray it in my art.

What I want is for women to understand their power and for men to acknowledge it. Through my exploration of the spirituality and identity of female deities I create pieces which embrace both the light and the dark sides of femaleness. Strength, vulnerability, intuition, shrewdness, tenacity, conciliation and love are all ambivalent attributes of women, only some women do not acknowledge all of these. I want my work to reflect the complexity of women and to make other people question their own spirituality, gender, role and path in this time and place.

There is a ritualistic element in creation which people often recognise in my work, likening individual pieces to reliquaries, standing stones and sacred icons. I have always needed ritual but found it rather shallow when not part of a creative process. And so I discovered a ritual in my own making process, a kind of symbiotic affinity with my material, a switching off of rational thinking and to a certain extent critical sight, a trusting to instincts which take me to a place where things begin to happen.

Exploration, experimentation and risk taking are fundamental to my work. The process can be uncomfortable at times, but is a necessary part of my journey. I like to use clay in a spontaneous way and have always been interested in collage techniques so that each piece is unique, in spite of the fact that some of my work in made in moulds. I also like to add other materials to my clay pieces, once they have been fired, a kind of assemblage of bits and pieces which reverberate with my psyche. I have developed all my own glazes, though a process of adjustment of already existing glaze recipes and through experimentation; my palette is subdued and inspired by the colours of our Earth from which the oxides I use are drawn.

Current Work

I use stoneware clays of all kinds, ranging from porcelain to crank. I make sculptural pieces in different scales, some for the garden, some for the mantle piece and some in between. I also make use of driftwood collected from the shore, glass fired in my kiln, soft metal sheet and wire with which I knit shapes which are included in some of my finished pieces.

Work generally available from:

Skylark 2
Unit 1.09
Oxo Tower Wharf,
Barge House Street,
London SE1 9PH
Tel 020 7401 9666
www.skylarkgallery.com

Blue Moon Gallery
18 Camden Road,
Tunbridge Wells,
Kent TN1 2PT
Tel 01892 540100

Chalk Gallery
4, North Street, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 2PA
www.chalkgallery.org.uk

Other Information
I am available for workshops, lectures and demonstrations using all or some of the materials and techniques outlined above. I am happy to work with people of all ages and abilities and in any location.

Technical Information

Some of my work is made in moulds. The textures that I like to impress into clay are preserved when laying the clay in plaster moulds. I also use hand building techniques specially when making larger pieces.The work is fired in an electric kiln, although at times I do use smoke firing as a finish.I mix and develop my own glazes which are usually matt. These are applied by pouring or sponging on.

History

I came to ceramics rather later than most, and only really started when I was training as a teacher in my 40s. Having given up teaching, I did an MA in Contemporary Ceramics at the Surrey Institute in Farnham.I have exhibited widely in East Sussex and now that I have more spare time I am showing my work further a field, in fact as far as Cardiff.

Profile Image

Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - home

View Image Gallery Selected Images

Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Three Stages of Growth - Size: 20x30cm. Limed Pine Frame with porcelain chambers and wire and textile additions. Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Cauliflower Ear - Size: 50cm tall. Glazed crank clay.
Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Narcissus - Maquette: 40cm tall. Final piece: 75cm tall. Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Shopping Bag - Glazed stoneware with wire and textile additions.
Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Unfirled Shadows - Size: 37cm tall. Glazed stoneware with wire mesh and quartz crystal additions. Ceramics by Michèle Findlay at Studiopottery.co.uk - Disvestmenta - Glazed stoneware mounted on driftwood with wire and bead additions. Size: 45cm tall.

Contact Details

Studio Address: 26 Kedale Road, Seaford, East Sussex, UK, BN25 2BX.
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Telephone: +44 (0)1323 891327
Email:
Web-site: www.clay-works.co.uk

Availability: I'll be pleased to see visitors but please phone first, as I may not be in everyday.

Studio Location: I work at home, or to be precise in the shed at the back of the house.Coming from Brighton on A259, come up the hill into Seaford and take the fourth on the left which is Salisbury Road, (if you get to the station you've come too far), at T junction of Salisbury and Kedale turn left, 26 is on the right about 50m from the junction.



Last Updated: 2008-03-19

Work styles:

Sculptural
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