I recently became acquainted with Lydia Hardwick’s abstract ceramics because of her new show up on Buy Some Damn Art. I’m loving the colors and the surface design, as well as all of the random little bits that are mixed in.
In an interview with Kate Singleton of BSDA, Hardwick gives a detailed explanation of her process, which I find fascinating:
I use porcelain because it is very white. This means that when I mix colouring oxides and stains into it, the colours show up well. I tend to work quickly, making a lot of pieces in one go. Sometimes I squash the clay into big flat sheets, and cut out shapes to create a sort of collage. I also use porcelain a lot in its liquid form. This is called ‘slip’. I mix newspaper pulp into it, which makes it look a bit like porridge. I then pour the substance onto a surface and drop other small fragments of porcelain into it. When this dries, I might paint stained porcelain slip onto the surface. The true colours don’t emerge until the work has been fired in the kiln, so there is a lot of guesswork involved.
I would recommend reading the entire interview. It’s really interesting! And, if you’re interested in purchasing any of these works, mosey on over to Buy Some Damn Art.
