Last year Neil and I took a day away from the gallery and visited Potfest Scotland which took place at Scone Palace, Perth.
It was here that we met ceramicist Kirsty Anderson. Her stall instantly attracted my attention because it was so beautifully displayed. It can be hard arranging your work on a slightly wobbly trestle table in a marquee tent, whilst surrounded by hundreds of other makers! But Kirsty has an eye and she had added levels of varying height, just the right amount of her work so that it wasn’t jostling for attention and beautifully displayed flowers.
I love the simplicity of line in Kirsty’s work. Strong verticals, angled necks of a vase, the smooth and slick ellipses of a bowl, and the exaggerated curves on a handle. The scale of her pieces are appealing too,small vessels sitting snugly in your hand. Her surfaces accentuate the form of her work, with a clean palette of white, blue or stark black layered over the natural coloured textured clay. I loved the splodges of blue, the lines of smooth white and the splashes and drips of black. I talk a lot about my love of Abstract painting and the importance of composition and, essentially, I think this is why I am drawn to Kirsty’s work. She has the eye of a painter and in her work she created perfectly formed, perfectly composed pieces which allow your eye to sweep over them, and cleverly, your hand to sit perfectly on them in the exact right spot.
We bought two pieces from Kirsty on the day. My husband drinks from the mug on a daily basis, whilst the little Raku fired vessel sits proudly on display, drawing pleasure every day.
I find the juxtaposition of stark black against speckled natural clay particularly eye catching ad pleasing. It was fun to curate a display of Kirsty’s work alongside a selection of Tom Shanks dramatic, dark and stormy watercolours.
In these pieces I imagine a well of black tar or paint,overflowing and oozing, dripping slowly down the sides, blown off course and side ways by a gust of wind or by the pot being tipped. How many paint tins have you seen in your lifetime with a trail of drips and dribbles around the rim!
I love the simplicity of line in Kirsty’s work. Strong verticals, angled necks of a vase, the smooth slick curves and ellipses of the bases and rims.
“The vessels themselves are simple shapes taken from my interest in the aesthetics of past objects – milk churns,chemistry beakers and enamel wear.” Quote from Kirsty
The scale of Kirsty’s work is appealing, her small vessels sitting snugly in your hand.
I really feel a sense of Kirsty playing and experimenting with her glazing and surface decoration. The white lines dance around the surface of the pieces, random,sweeping, swirling and interweaving, in such contrast to the slick, clean curves of the bowl itself. I almost imagine Kirsty drawing with liquid icing, squeezed from a piping bag!
I am a sucker for the colour blue! Anybody who has visited the gallery will be able to testify to that! In these pieces Kirsty has spoilt us with the perfect combination of form, colour and surface pattern!
Can you not just imagine your morning cereal tasting better when eaten out of this beauty?!
