Ceramics
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In February 2025, I joined my wife Nicola at her ceramics studio, Turning Earth, based in Leyton.
Immersing myself in this creative space has been a refreshing change — a welcome contrast to the screen-focused nature of my usual work. Being surrounded by a warm and talented community of potters has been both inspiring and humbling.
I've especially enjoyed learning from Nicola herself, an incredibly skilled potter and, of course, my partner in life (and in clay!).
https://www.turningearth.org/
First collaboration with Nicola.
I decorated a plate that she left in our shed two years ago. It was my first painting with blue underglaze.
A curious shift from a Wacom stylus to drawing with a plastic bottle with a fine tip.
Nico made and decorated the bowl with the crane.
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Second collaboration
I decorated a bottle made by Nico. It was sleeping on the same shelf in our garden shed.
I was inspired by traditional Chinese cobalt blue decor and modern Japanese Manga style themes.
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First mug
In the studio, I was told off for drinking tea from my supersize mug from Sports Direct.
I made a copy of it, added an extra handle for fun and decorated it with a funny tea bag creature.
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First pot
I built this pot from slabs. I got some cracks therefore it ended up with a lot of holes and cuts.
I went back to themes that I explored when I was an Art student in the 90's:
-'Weird creatures lost in post industrial landscapes!'.
Nuclear post-apocalyptic world was a little bit of an obsession of the post-war period.
Mad Max, Water World, Luc Besson's 'Le dernier combat', Delicatessen and many other films were very influential.
In 1986, the Chernobyl disaster shocked us and reminded us of the reality of it all.
Funnily enough it became a trend in video games such as Fall Out, or in Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
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Nico had a spare porcelain bowl. I decorated it with an 'octo-spagh' !
A tentacular cyclope creature living among spaghetti in the bottom of bowls.
I get caught every morning by this weird looking bowl when I open the kitchen drawer. Quite scary !!!
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First tiles
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Bottle #1
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Bottle #2
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Bottle #3
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Vase with Marine theme
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Vase with industrial landscape and creatures
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Sculptural vase
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Sculptural vase
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Various decorated small vases.
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Decorated plates
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Various decorated small vases.
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Sketches of ceramic projects
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Working the clay
The most satisfying thing to do when I am potting about is to smash some fresh clay against the plaster wedging table.
Try it and experience the fun of the 'Splotch' sound!!!
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Wedging
Wedging clay is a process to make sure the clay is in a proper working condition before you start making pottery with it.
The clay is moved in a repetitive way to help remove air bubbles and even out the consistency.
There are multiple methods that can be used.
Ram's head wedging
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Spiral wedging
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Creating a block for rolling slabs |
Slab rolling
From a block of clay to a flat slab (not forgetting to punch trapped air bulbs)
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Trimming and applying glazes
When the clay is 'leather hard' trimming and adding details on the greenware is a long and time consuming activity. Brushing underglazes on bisque fired pots is another tricky one. Applied colours are instantaneously sucked into the fired clay. The technique is completely different from painting on canvas or paper. Brush marks are pretty short , contrast has to be imagined as the darkest tones are very pale before the 'glaze firing' stage. Liquid glaze colours do not match the final fired glazes, therefore there is no margin for error.
'Control Z' is not available,...damn!!!
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Kilns room and storage |
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Thanks to my wife Nicola for sharing her knowledge generously and her patience with me.
https://www.instagram.com/nicola.ceramics/
www.nicolalevinsky.com/
