BA (Hons) 3D Design & Craft End of Year Online Exhibitions 2020

My main artistic activity takes place in the ceramics workshop. I create moulds from either found objects with captivating forms or from turned plaster forms, and then I slip cast using the mould in pastel coloured porcelain.

I decorate my work with alluring repetitive textures using colours that pop against one another- experimenting with a mixture of matte and glossy finishes.

The key aspects of my work are the colours- which ping from one to another, and the textures, which invite the viewer to touch. The aim of the pieces is to bring joy to the
viewer, to create a visceral response which whips them away from the mundanity of everyday life.

For me it's really important that my work exists in people's everyday lives. I want my work to bring a little bit of happiness to the beholder.

‘I won’t curb my self-expression to meet your expectations of how a woman should look.’ - Frida Kahlo.

My work is heavily influenced by Frida Kahlo and her values of women and focuses on telling a story through imagery.

I manipulate her photographs and incorporate an abundance of flowers as a way of celebrating her life and the things she fought for, as well as creating a starting point for a conversation.

The flowers are a symbol of femininity and are communicators in their own right.

By combining Frida’s iconic look with the beauty of nature the work itself becomes a celebration of all things feminine and shows that like Frida, you too should be proud of who you are no matter how you look.

‘I won’t curb my self-expression to meet your expectations of how a woman should look.’ - Frida Kahlo.

My work is based on solving mental health issues and my love for solving puzzles and being a person who has autism and anxiety this project is important to me.

It was a must to create something so meaningful and I am so happy to have dedicated my final piece in year 3 to an amazing cause. As you can see, I have also chosen blue to represent the NHS as my own mother is fighting on the front line.

Another reason why puzzle pieces were the perfect choice for me was the fact that they are mean to fit together and with out one another they are never complete and this describes me as a child

This is why it was important to show the puzzle pieces never being able to connect with each other, symbolising loneliness and longing for perfect fit.

The plastic bottle has become the image of all that is wrong with society today; throw away, polluting, and fossil fuel based. My work is a nod to a time when bottles were used more than once, and made from glass. A recyclable material that isn’t polluting our environment and poisoning our waters. The old bottles came with a return policy, thus with care a bottle could be used several times. Transporting liquids without leaving its mark on the environment.

Transporting liquids without leaving its mark on the environment. My repairs are a reminder and a metaphor. If we think creatively, we can mend the breaks and fractures in our system. My work also talks about objects getting a second chance. When we throw something away like a plastic bottle we forget the fact that ‘away’ is a place. If we rethink the habit of throw away, crucially our environment gets a second chance too.