Collection: Sue Fields

Artist statement

My pathway
I have been working in clay for over 40 years and it is not an exaggeration to assert that being a ceramicist defines who I am. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true to say that clay has been my obsession from a young age, and that the making of objects has been my chosen path of sanity through both peaceful and tumultuous times!
After completing my BA (hons) in 3D design Ceramics from Camberwell School of Art in London, I set up my first small studio in Sussex, with the aid of a Crafts Council Grant and a year long bursary which kept me afloat, whilst making connections with galleries. I felt very privileged to have received the recognition of the Crafts Council, being one of only 10 young craftspeople to have received this award in the year following my graduation.
My early years as a ceramicist were spent making mainly throwing brightlycoloured tableware in a Fauvist style. Some of these pieces are in the collection of Brighton and Hove Museum. However, a change of Studio and an inclination towards figurative sculpture, small editions of vessels and more conceptual work, has taken me to a very different place.
Alongside my own work, I began teaching, both in schools and adult
education and this has continued to be an important part of what I do. The delight of seeing a child finding their strength in creating in clay, or the adult student who feels passionate enough to set up their own home workshop reassures me that ceramic art has a viable and meaningful future!

My processes and practices

I enjoy making small editions of vessels that relate closely to one another. Living by the sea but having my studio next to woodland, I find that my ideas ping-pong between both sources of inspiration and the comings and goings of the seasons.
In the summer, like any beachcomber, I’m drawn to the flotsam and jetsam to be found on the shoreline. I like to reinterpret these on the surfaces of my pots, as if the vessels are ancient things, dredged from the depths. To do this I use a heavily textured clay for the pots, which I then enhance with smooth white porcelain inclusions and chunks of
coarse grog. I like the contrast between rough and smooth.
In the autumn, I feel the abundance of nature around my wooded studio, so seed-heads, nuts, fruiting bodies and their beautiful forms, inevitably permeate my work, both thrown and hand-built. These pieces are earthy, and the colours of my clay and glazes reflect those of the season.
In the winter months, my chilly studio heralds a cooler palette including porcelain and lighter blues and greens in my glazes! Alongside my pots, I create figurative pieces, some of which are based upon recent life drawings and others that are inspired by myth and folklore. Again, these reflect the seasons, with figures of summery seaswimmers cavorting in the waves and autumnal wood-dwellers from whose ample bodies there spring trees and leaves.

As a variety of clays feature in my work, I have spent many hours testing my glazes on their differing surfaces to understand the relationship between the two and to make informed choices about what effects I am trying to achieve. No two combinations are ever the same, and the excitement (or disappointment) comes from exploring these interactions. It’s no surprise that the potters of ancient China describe ceramics as ‘the art with no pity’!
I make my own glazes and use as many locally-sourced and recycled materials as I can lay my hands on, such as local clay, and free wood & ash from the stoves of nearby pubs and friends’ wood-stoves!
I name my glazes after the sources of these foraging activities, such as ‘Bedgebury iron mustard’ and ‘Lord Raglan matt ash green’. This brings an authenticity to what I am doing, as well as grounding it to the environment, both physically as well as conceptually.
Work is either oxidation-fired to a high temperature (Stoneware and Porcelain), or is sometimes Raku-fired in my outdoor, gas kiln to encourage reduction, characteristic crazing and colour.