Emily-Kriste Wilcox
Painting in clay….
Emily-Kriste Wilcox uses a painterly approach, each of her slabbuilt ceramic vessels holds an abstract interpretation that can often be attributed to the landscape.
Blues, greens and greys predominate the colour palette, with splashes or accents of colour to punctuate the otherwise subtle surfaces. Markmaking can be directional, or make reference to other elements of exploration such as dressmaking, fabric and stitch.
The construction of these vessel forms, has evolved over several years, and incorporates her research into tea caddies from the V&A collection – which has most notably informed the more oval shapes within this series of work. The continuation of the markmaking, the story or the view travels around the multi-faceted panels with an effortless flow of movement, softly punctuated by a considered coloured seam or join.
Walking the landscape, along with drawing and painting continue to be vital aspects within Emily’s practice. These often work as tools, both for exploring and documenting colour, shape and texture; but also in developing her approach to working with ceramic materials and the 3d form. This can involve documenting, abstracting, translating, referencing and interpreting aspects of the landscape. Each panel of clay is then built up using layers of decorating slips to achieve the desired depth of surface. The vessels can evoke a sense of place, and often hold similarities to misty skies, walks across the hills or a view across the sea, immediately transporting the viewer to that wide open space.
More abstract developments encapsulate some of these elements related to the outside world, yet the shapes continue to gently evolve, building and refining on what came before and striving for a pleasing level of aesthetic and balance. The use of cohesive colours hold together these juxtapositions and allow these multi-faceted pieces to sit as happily exuding calm and balance on their own, as they do harmoniously relate to one another when in a group or collection.
Each piece continues to be individual, each piece is an interpretation of an earlier impression or experience. A painting in clay.
