Narratives of ecology in clay
- Gaby explores environmental concerns and regeneration through clay
- A Royal College of Art graduate, she makes and teaches in London
- Seeing rubbish washed up on shores around the world has inspired her to address this through her works
Gaby Mlynarczyk's ceramic practice is centred on creating assemblage sculptures on themes of waste and re-use. Clay has been a lifelong companion for Gaby, and her work reconfigures discarded fragments into new hybrid forms. She sources items from the sea such as metal, broken ceramic fragments and plastic, and they become the starting point of her organic sculptures. Informed by environmental reading, scientific research and the study of material afterlives, Gaby turns waste into wonder by beautifying these discarded fragments and remnants with metal lustre and elegant glazes. Her sculptures imagine future ecologies in which marine life, mycelium and human waste intertwine, inviting reflection on how nature adapts, persists, and ultimately prevails.
Interview
- When were you first drawn to clay?
- My grandparents first gave me clay to play with to pass time at the age of four. I would sit in the garden for hours, adding leaves and other materials into the putty. Clay has always popped up in my life whenever I am at a crux. It is something I have always poured my soul into.
- How does research inform your making?
- I read the New York Times every morning religiously and follow ecological projects. Merlin Sheldrake’s book on mycelium blew my mind. I am fascinated by stories of how humans and biology interact, and how nature ultimately supersedes humanity. This fuels my imagination.
- What would you cite as characteristic of your work?
- My exploration of waste, which will always be central to my practice. Living on the Californian coast, seeing overconsumption and all the trash wash up onto the beach daily shaped me. Collecting discarded ceramics and materials, and giving them new life feels endlessly meaningful to me.
- What recent experience has had a deep impact on your work?
- My residency at UCA Farnham in 2024 gave me time, space and resources to continue ideas I had developed at the RCA previously. Teaching students there, watching them flourish, I know I want to continue teaching in a university or in museum education.
Gaby Mlynarczyk is a master artisan: she began her career in 1996 and she started teaching in 1996
Where
Gaby Mlynarczyk
