Kerry Hastings

‘I have developed my current work as an emotional response to landscape, to the shifting seasons and weather and to the moods and emotions that are a causal effect of these.’

‘Formally trained at the renowned Harrow Ceramics at University of Westminster, I have been working with clay for over 20 years.  I make both wheel thrown and handbuilt work, sometimes employing both methods within one piece.  Handbuilding using the primitive technique of coiling with large ropes of clay is a slow meditative process which suits my temperament and, without the use of machine or mould, it is purely down to the hand and eye.  It is necessary to have a sculptor’s eye when coiling and I prefer to use this technique when making my bigger pieces as it affords me the opportunity to make pieces that are not perfectly symmetrical but have a sense of life and movement and are therefore like forms that could be found in nature.’

‘Once I have completed the building of these sculptural vessels I then use the finished form as a canvas. Whilst being mindful of its curves and contours, I brush on layer upon layer of coloured slip which I colour with varying percentages of oxides such as cobalt, manganese, copper, red and black iron oxide so each piece is unique.  An ash glaze is then applied also by brush for a milky opacity.’