05th October
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Penny Lecture – as part of London Craft Week
James Evans is sculptural ceramicist and esteemed Morley ceramics tutor who uses metal leaf and powders to create unique surfaces for his ceramics works. In this special Penny Lecture for London Craft Week, James will explore the study, techniques, influencers, and culture that have shaped his work – and show how to draw on external influences in developing creative practice. James’s story starts in rural Suffolk with dreams of becoming a St. Ives potter up until now as a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, international exhibitor and whose work is part of the V&A Collection.
Speaker Biography
James enjoys creating references that are incomplete and open to interpretation, allowing the observer to mull over its past/present purpose. For the past five years James has been developing new forms and surface treatments to his work, that break with tradition to forge new paths of expression in ceramics. His work has become more reflective of the past. There is evidence of age with use of rusting iron and peeling metal leaf, and the forms fractured presence.
He says much of his work is intuitive, but the current references are from his childhood, between the ages of ten and mid-teens. His weekends and school holidays were spent on the shingle beaches of Suffolk, climbing in or on the old gun posts and pill boxes. The sea and weather had twisted and contorted these slabs of concrete revealing the rusted iron skeletal supports. These forms were in stark contrast to the shifting single and hedgerows with bramble tentacles reaching over the grey slabs.
The use of precious metals is an approach James has developed where the value of an object can be elevated by its presentation or surface treatment. In this informative lecture James will uncover the processes that allow ceramics to take on new and textures and shapes to make art in ceramics.
