Crafting a coastline out of clay
- Hannah's first object was a set of three interlinked terracotta jugs
- Hannah is constantly inspired by the seashore
- Abstraction allows her to interpret the landscape in a personal way
Hannah originally began training as a vet, before a chance moment led her to change her path to ceramics. She left vet school and the following year began a degree in ceramics and glass from which she has never looked back. She combines ceramics and printmaking to create collections of sensitively realised vessel forms and subtly layered monoprints exploring the layered landscapes and sea-washed, weather-worn surfaces of the British coastline. Marks, lines and diffused merging colours are built up, cut through and dissolved away, referencing the endless remaking of the shore.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
Vessels are formed using a unique hybrid of slip casting and throwing. Within an open plaster mould I build layers of printed, poured and painted casting slips, overlaying colours on the porous surface. Using a throwing wheel, the top section is added to the moulded cast and thrown out.
Not as such, but for the last few years I have been mentored by the internationally renowned ceramicist Felicity Aylieff, which has had a huge impact on my practice.
Both my ceramics and monoprints derive from my fascination with the seashore, an area of contrasts that is continually reshaping itself with the passage of light, weather and time. It also provides the muted colour scheme that I work with.
They are inextricably linked in my work – it is the dual nature of my practice that has driven much of my development as an artist. The conventions, tools and techniques of the print room have marked my ceramic work, while aspects of working with clay have widened my approach to print.
Hannah Tounsend
Ceramicist
Leicester, United Kingdom
Recommended by Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust - QEST
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
PHONE
+44 7921142726
LANGUAGES
English
