Vivienne Ross is a ceramic artist based in North Staffordshire and a graduate of Bath Academy of Art. She has worked as a potter since 1996, initially alongside Geoff and Pat Fuller. She later established her own studio in Sheffield, working from a space rented from Edmund de Waal. She subsequently moved to Roslyn Works in Stoke-on-Trent and is now based in Leek, a small market town on the edge of the Peak District. Early support from the Crafts Council helped shape her distinctive approach.
Her work centres on ceramics as vessels for both objects and ideas. Guided by an intuitive and spontaneous process, she draws on personal experience and a wide range of influences, including her surrounding environment, folk art, music, politics, and philosophy. Recurring themes of family, friendship, love, isolation, and the wonder of nature reflect a broader exploration of human connection. These ideas emerge through figures, narrative fragments, and shifts in scale.
Working primarily in red earthenware, she uses coloured slips and engobes to create richly illustrated surfaces. Forms are intentionally simple, hand-built using press moulding, coiling, slab building, and, more recently, throwing. Decoration is developed through brushwork, paper stencils, and sgraffito, resulting in imagery that is layered, expressive, and closely integrated with form. Her ceramics are adorned with drawings that are both playful and poignant: simple figures, naïve perspectives, and unexpected placements create a gentle, understated humour. Meanings remain open-ended, inviting the viewer into a quiet dialogue with each piece.
Each work is unique, individually decorated, and signed. Her practice reflects an environmentally responsible ethos, with an emphasis on reclaiming and reusing materials wherever possible.
