Liz Lawrence

Working with porcelain is a complex challenge - offering the chance to produce work that will endure. The aim is to produce a piece that will create a lasting impression.

Refinement is good but it is important to retain some evidence of ‘hand made’, to establish a personal note - making a connection between maker and handler – the surface feel of a finished piece is integral to the whole. Pairing textured slips with porcelain creates contrast, like silk against linen.

Most of the work is thrown and turned and sometimes joined. The whiteness of the porcelain acts like a 3D canvas onto which slips and glazes are applied . These are painted directly onto the raw piece using a soft brush. The designs are achieved by latex resist or sgraffito. The pieces are then fired once only (or raw fired) to cones 8-9 in an oxidised electric Kiln.

Single firing has always been an important aspect of the work. Working on green ware, is a very tactile experience – the pots retain a feeling of being ‘alive’ right up until they are placed in the kiln. Progressing the dead, ‘carcass like’, pots that a bisque firing delivers up has never been a priority.

An optimistic, outward looking, person has the ability to find inspiration in many aspects of the visual world around. The work is instinctive rather than questioning - pots are like seedlings, some taking longer to germinate than others.