HND Alumni Showcase their Ceramics Art at New Exhibition

Alumni students, who studied the Higher National Diploma in ceramics at Morley College, have been displaying their artwork in a new show titled ‘Fire and Flourish’.

Ceramics artworks created by the alumni, who studied there from 2017-2021, are now on display at the Morley Gallery in south London from 16-31 March.

Many of the former students exhibiting have successfully progressed to working in their own studios, or studying further at a higher level on degrees and Masters courses at university.

Some of the highlights of the exhibition include Fiona Bruce, who is now working in her own studio and collaborating with other ceramicists, painters and glass artists in Buckinghamshire and London.

Her work titled ‘Washed Ashore’ is a collection using porcelain, oxides and slips to create pieces, which evoke the patterns and textures of beach objects.

“Fragile shells, marine creatures and driftwood fragments washed ashore by the tide, bleached and weathered by sun and salt waves. Working with thin, stretched porcelain has enabled me to capture nature’s qualities of fragility, lightness and strength.”

Another exhibit by Claudette Forbes titled ‘Poor Cow, A Collection of Slip Cast Cows and Illustrated Milk Bottles’ draws on her life experience as a child of Jamaican parents, growing up in inner city Bristol.

“The branded cow, with its M-logo legs, was inspired by a visit to family in Jamaica where, in Montego Bay, the first McDonald’s had opened. In a neighbouring field stood a solitary cow – I appreciated the irony of that.

“The process of making this collection informed my conceptual development, leading me to think about our consumption of the cow and its environmental impact. The seated cow’s base is modelled directly from a real cow’s tongue, purchased from a butcher in Peckham, London, where I live.”