Helen Johannessen
Porcelain maker
London, United Kingdom
A playful exploration of porcelain
- Helen makes porcelain artworks and wall art that explore surface and light
- Teaching and consulting are central to her practice, too
- She was presented with the HRH President Award for Industrial Ceramics 2020
Helen Johannessen’s ceramic artwork explores the relationships between plaster, porcelain and surface, combining technical skill with a curiosity for how materials record time, touch and transformation. Whilst studying at the Royal College of Art in 2015, she started to focus on working with porcelain more specifically. "This allowed me to use surface and form in sculpture and in 2D wall art," explains Helen. She develops works that play with light and balance, at times exploring the translucency of porcelain, and at other times its possibilities as a canvas for colour. "I intend for my work to represent physical movement and make evident the processes involved in the making," she says. Over the span of her career, Helen has combined making with teaching and mentoring, helping others unlock their own ideas through experimentation and connections.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
At 16, I started an evening class in pottery and took a GSCE Art along with re-take students, so it was a short six-month period of what would normally be a two-year course. Having created a small portfolio, I got offered a place to follow a ceramic degree. I have never looked back.
Straight after graduating from university, I started working in a ceramic model and mould making studio in an old schoolhouse studio just off Brick Lane, London. In 1995, lots of creative types were hidden around the area since it was cheap and not so fashionable at the time. I learned a lot about the ceramic industry there.
It can be made to feel as light as a feather – this became important to me after I suffered with a back condition resulting in surgery. I am absolutely fine now but am always aware of creating heavy things, either actual or visual, it makes me feel weighed down. Porcelain can be thin, yet strong and voluminous without using very much material at all.
I was awarded the inaugural 2020 President Award from HRH Prince Charles (now King Charles III) for my career in industrial ceramics, my discipline was added to The Endangered Crafts Red List in 2019. To be acknowledged for the decades of working in an essentially male dominated industry, as a self-taught female and Londoner, I felt very proud.
Helen Johannessen
Porcelain maker
London, United Kingdom
ADDRESS
Studio W8 Cockpit Bloomsbury, Northington Street, WC1N 2NP, London, United Kingdom
View on MapsAVAILABILITY
By appointment only
PHONE
+44 7941087372
LANGUAGES
English
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