Jacqueline Clark - Open Studios

Thrown and handbuilt ceramic work made from local clay and inspired by the tide at my creekside studio.

I make thrown and hand-built tableware and sculpture informed by the seasons and the tide. Form and colour are influenced by the calm tidal creeks and rivers of the south coast of Cornwall where I live and work. I mainly use Dobles white stoneware clay from St Agnes.

Sculpture is based on boats that sit on the water or on the mud at low tide. These pieces, made from clay loaded with oxide, reference boats but are not intended as perfect representations; they capture the essence – some suggest movement, some static.

Much of my work is inscribed with lines representing the swaying grasses of the creek margins. Reeds, silt and how the tide and man mark the landscape, all influence the work. Glazes are representative of the tide: a dry, ultra-matt green glaze emulates the creek at low tide, a grey glaze reflects the soft focus of the view in Cornish mizzle, turquoise and black mottle represents seaweed on the shoreline, then turquoise-blue, the vibrant colour of the sea on a summer’s day. I also often use the local creek mud and beach finds to explore surface.

Visits to Mashiko and Kyoto in Japan have been hugely inspiring. Raku teabowls are fired and washed at the water’s edge.

I exhibit in Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and London. I graduated in ceramics from Cardiff in 1989. I worked as a Learning and Participation Officer at Leach Pottery, St Ives and I teach throwing courses at my studio.