Anthea Bowen – Ceramics - Open Studios

I create ceramic sculptures and slip decorated pots that reflect the rugged Cornish coastal environment.

I feel at home in nature and ideas for new pieces are conceived during walks along the coastline close to my studio in west Cornwall. I like to create calm, contemporary ceramics which reflect this rugged coastal environment.

The soft lines and the positive and negative space created by the juxtaposition of sea-worn rounded boulders, the textures of the rock, the beautiful fine lines running through pebbles, rock pools with shiny water and ripples in sand, these are all elements that kindle new ideas and inspire new collections of work.

I either hand build, working with slabs of black or white earthenware clay or create forms by throwing and altering. Based on an original sketch, each piece emerges slowly and evolves during the making process. I forage natural materials and use these to impress patterns into the damp clay, coloured slips are then layered onto selected areas and are manipulated with brushing, layering, combing and mono printing. I also like to cut open forms, creating voids similar to millennia of wave formed caves. After the first firing the pieces are selectively glazed, leaving areas of elementally exposed clay.

I return to the beach with the completed pot, to photograph the piece within the environment that inspired it, bringing the creative process full circle.

I will be handbuilding a series of sculptures during the event and will welcome visitors questions about the creative and technical processes required to create these pieces.

In Trew you will also find the Open Studios of Cornish Spoons, Richard Horner – Artist and David CP Harrison – Sculptures.