Hannah Tounsend

Ceramicist

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.

Interview

Do you use specific techniques in your work?: 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.
Have you trained with a master?: 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.
Where do you look for inspiration?: 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.
How do printmaking and ceramics work together for you?: 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 is a master artisan: she began her career in 2003 and she started teaching in 2016