Tanya McCallin - Grey Stoneware Clay fired to 1280°C
Tanya McCallin - Grey Stoneware Clay fired to 1280°C
Tanya McCallin
Grey Stoneware Clay fired to 1280°C, glazed interior (TMc239)
10.5 x 19 cm
About the artist
I am a studio potter based in London, with a professional background designing sets and costumes for Theatre and Opera internationally. In 2015 I completed the City Lit Ceramics Diploma.
Pottery has become a process of distillation, simplifying many disparate interests and influences of time and place.
My making is based upon craftsmanship and material enquiry, using porcelain, stoneware and earthenware clays, some highly refined, others betraying their geological origins. Within the chaotic, elemental nature of clay lies the potential for transformation into form that can tell stories, hold memories, be vital and alive. Out of this material energy, I seek objects that express an ancient, raw simplicity and conversely a honed contemporary refinement.
Pieces are thrown and sometimes hand finished using the vessel to express a quality of simple, quiet permanence. There is an energy and vitality in the upward trust of work made on the wheel that calms with the slower pace of hand coiling.
I am interested in the edges of pots, the balance of their form, structure and surface, but also in their group dynamics and their relationship to the architectural spaces they inhabit and rest upon. The elements of light and shadow give objects vitality and resonance; their place and purpose informed by cultural histories, art and architecture, geometry and an emotional response to urban and natural landscapes.