British Ceramics Biennial 3

Left: Dorcas Casey Pain for Home 2020 61cm x 30cm x 17cm Black stoneware

Above: Rosie Harman A Ceramic Landscape 2021 Ceramic installation plus feathers

Laura Plant

First Day Vase - Black Jasper

Laura Plant is the latest ‘Fresh Talent Resident Artist’ hosted at the British Ceramics Biennial (DCB) Studio, Spode Works. Her hometown of Stoke-on-Trent where she draws from the creative heritage and ambition of the pioneering potters who made the city famous. Helped by this residency to delve deeper, she looks to echo the grandeur long admired. Laura is reimagining iconic forms, stripping back the decoration to reveal contemporary designs.

Exploring the identity and culture of place, she references Stoke’s past, present and future, through the Spode Site. The industrious presence of the China Hall, with its worn walkways still visible to the keen eye. The flora and fauna growing from buildings are a beautiful and poignant reminder of the challenges that have faced the ceramics industry in recent years. Yet the site is finding new life as a catalyst for regeneration and home for contemporary ceramics. Laura see’s Stoke’s identity as entwined with craftsmanship, skill and with innovation at the heart of its success. Trials. Thrown porcelain

Drawn to the grandeur of the pottery's history and the amazing creations of 18th century ceramics, she wanted the project to begin, starting with visiting the museums of Stoke-onTrent, the V&A Wedgwood museum and the reserve collection of the Potteries Museum. Here she was inspired by the forms and innovations of Josiah Wedgwood, Josiah Spode and their contemporaries. She wanted to reimagine these iconic works of art, striping back the decoration to show the beautiful and elegant forms.

In her studio she began throwing shapes, taking elements of the historic forms and mixing them with elements of her own style. Drawn in particular to handles she began to explore how sweeping handles can create drama though extrusion and manipulating casts.

‘Trials’ are almost thrown sketches in porcelain, a small snapshot of her experiments with glaze, form and surface during the residency. From the research, she found the story of The First Day Vases thrown by Josiah Wedgwood on the first day of production at his new Factory in Etruria - captivating. They are lovely objects in their own right but feel so full of hope and optimism for the future. She wanted her collection for the BCB to mirror this hope for Stoke’s future so designed and created her own First Days Vases. Cast in Bone China, black porcelain and black Jasper (kindly given by Wedgwood), each vase explores either glaze or is decorated with flora and fauna found around the old Spode works. Each is finished with a pigeon finial, echoing the animal motifs common in Stoke ceramics, and connecting them to the Spode works site.

First Day Vases

Laura Plant lauraplantdesign@gmail.com www.lauraplantdesign.co.uk