Willow Vegetables

Initially designed and made for Potfest 2022 maker’s competition Rooted in the past, planted in the present, these Willow Vegetable Vases are inspired by my allotment. I enjoyed playing with, designing and making them so much I decided to make them a permanent collection.

Over the years I have found lots of pottery fragments, mainly blue and white and Willow Pattern, while digging over the ground on the allotment; I’m still finding more. The patterns from the fragments are copied directly onto the vases, while the vegetables are those grown on the allotment.

The form of the vessels is inspired by a Spode vase.

Fields

I‘ve always been drawn to the lines in the agricultural landscape, not knowing exactly why. Is it the softness? the gentle curves of the hills? or the parallel lines? I’m not fully sure why but that is part of my enjoyment of it. Using decorating techniques, I play with the effect of light and dark on the pattern. It’s an opportunity for you to choose all the same or to mix and match the pieces while keeping the style the same throughout.

Some pieces have added paper resist details of objects found in the landscape - singular trees, groups of trees, farm buildings, farm machinery and birds.

Linear

The linear patterns are strongly inspired by an old galvanised bin and the pottery windows. Seeing what happens when a straight line is drawn on a curved surface intrigues me; exploring how the shape of the form is softly accentuated by the curve of the line which can go in an unexpected direction. It has a life of its own. My aim is to balance this with the relationship of decorated to undecorated surface area and the effect it has individually and as a group.

In The Pottery

Archive

My first collection of pieces, designed during my apprenticeship. Slip decoration, through brushing and trailing, is a satisfying process which creates beautiful results with an apparent simplicity. Coloured with natural oxides and stains, the brushwork gives a variation in tone, texture and richness. The slip-trailed leaf motifs are used to incite tactile quality to the pieces.

A selection of the work I made during the DCCoI Pottery Skills and Design Course and at Limerick School of Art and Design in Ireland.