About

I’m a ceramacist based in Bristol, UK.

When making a piece I am always looking for something dynamic and energetic, but also a certain familiarity and peacefulness that conveys itself in the shape and form of the piece.

I use both the wheel and handbuilding or combinations of the two and frequently reshaping the clay whilst it is still pliable.

My work includes many techniques, but mainly working around pattern; Neriage and Nerikomi. methods where coloured is clay used to create a blocks of colour, much as in Murini bead work and also Mishima and Sgraffito which involve carving into the clay.

The aim of these pieces is to create a pattern that is organic but defined, a shape that is contained but not restrictive, and proportions that are harmonious and dynamic.

Email: kate@corneliusceramics.com

Influences & Current Thoughts

I came to ceramics 12 years ago after a life long interest in the handmade. This started with a passion for architectural restoration, which led on to construction of earth built cob houses in Devon, and further on to visiting Mali , West Africa to study earth construction in Djenne, Timbuktu and the Bandiagara escarpment.

Mali has one of the largest earth structures in the world, the great mosque at Djenne. It is a luminous structure of buttresses, strutts and internal scaffolding. It is essentially an adobe construction (clay bricks baked by the sun) which is then daubed with clay annually after the rains, which is where the internal scaffolding comes in handy. What I love so much about vernacular architecture is where you see the hand of the maker; here it is so evident. Coming up close to a structure you can see the grass in the dung of the animals that is a key ingredient of the daubing, You can also see the finger marks of the mason who has placed the clay. I find this strangely moving, similar to finding a mattress needle under the floorboards. It shows transient industry where you will never know much of the maker except what you can glean from the object or markings left behind. Of course in Mali, they rebuild and rebuild, whether it be mosques, huts or grain barns, each with clear regional differences. Here, beauty is expressed in the everday and I suppose that has left a lasting impression.

For many years after this I imported Malian textiles and Tuareg jewellery, and became more intrigued by pattern and symbolism. Recent thoughts have turned to our own markings in Britain and it is these impressions that can be seen in my current work.

With this in mind, and with most of the pieces in the Gallery here, I see the thoughts of the last few years reflected. The Hollow Way vases in particular describing the ancient routes through the British countryside, routes taken and walked for work, pleasure or prayer. And sometimes those routes become like a pilgrim on a journey in homage to something indescribable. They still follow well trodden paths, tracks, diversions, hunches of our heart or gut. They all lead onward and that is the point.

Exhibitions

2025 The Art of Slowness with Wondering People Gallery for London Craft Week

2024 Bovey Tracy Craft Festival

2023 Cheltenham Craft Festival

2023 Wells Gallery, Somerset

2022 Centrespace Gallery, Bristol