ALISON WEST Alison West Ceramics

ALISON WEST CERAMICS

Pocelain Saggar Fired Vessels

My pots are saggar-fired hand-thrown porcelain. I produce saggar-fired unglazed forms. The saggar is a container in which pots are buried in organic and volatile materials and fired in a gas kiln. Throughout the firing, the combustible material burns off and surfaces are decorated by smoke, flame, oxides and plants collected from my local environment in Dartmoor, Devon.

The results are unpredictable and exciting - created by detailed preparation of the pot, the combustibles within the saggar and the firing process. I work in the knowledge that results will never be repeated. I enjoy the risk and varying emotional responses derived from the process. I find the controlled atmosphere that produces uncontrolled results reflects life itself and allows me to be adventurous.

I strive to convey an elemental sense of earth and fire, am inspired by clay transformed by flame and influenced by simple, feminine and elegant shapes with a tactile quality.

My pots also reflect the experience of living in a ceramics region in Japan, I do not consciously create Japanese style pots but there is an influence.

View my website http://www.alisonwestceramics.me.uk/