Shaping clay into emotion
- Heather’s fine porcelain pieces reference landscape, architecture and material imperfection
- She produces functional wares and sculptural vessels with personal narratives
- Her artworks have featured in galleries and exhibitions across the USA and Canada
Heather Waugh Pitts is a self-taught ceramicist working primarily in high-fired porcelain with a secondary practice creating functional pieces for chefs. She came to ceramics after a long career in interior design and mural painting, developing her practice independently in her home studio. Heather is inspired by landscape and architecture, referencing bogs, refinery fields and Baroque and Brutalist forms in her pieces. “I use surface, glaze and structure as a language,” she says. Heather’s sculptural vessels use these aspects along with tactility and organic shapes to explore imperfection, memory and the emotional weight objects can carry. Her recent pieces have incorporated layered glazes, carving and fragments of inherited porcelain as she questions what is prized and preserved.
Interview
- When did you become a ceramicist?
- I trained in dietetics and worked in healthcare before moving into painting and interior design. Ceramics came later, through a community studio near my home. When it closed before Covid-19, I built a studio and taught myself through constant experimentation.
- What inspires the forms and surfaces of your vessels?
- Landscape and architecture. I grew up near refinery fields, woods and the sea, and later became interested in Baroque, Gothic and Brutalist architecture. I think of vessels as landscapes in which structure, surface and glaze work together.
- How do you balance your functional and sculptural work?
- I take on functional commissions selectively, mainly with chefs who value handmade work and give me freedom. Vessels are where I feel most open. They allow me to experiment without constraints while remaining materially functional.
- Have you found ways to broaden and develop your practice in recent years?
- The theme of The Power of Objects at a recent exhibition encouraged me to make items tied to my own history. One vessel holds experiences from my early life, including loss, family and love. I do not need to explain it, but I want the object to carry that weight.
Heather Waught Pitts is a rising star: she began her career in 2019
Where
Heather Waught Pitts
