Morgan Dowdall

BA (Hons) Ceramics


I produce ceramic sculptures that celebrate the responsiveness of both skin and clay, blurring the lines between body and object. The body is central to our understanding of the world, art should therefore remind us of what it feels like to inhabit it, forcing reflection on our corporeal being.

Clay mimics skin. Through hand-building, a membrane is formed, creating a barrier between inside and out. The bodily qualities of my work are further emphasised by the impressions of my own hairs and fingerprints, as well as the natural folds of the clay.

The works are one-off pieces that come together to create variable scenes. Ceramic ‘stage props’ play between two and three dimensions, placing fragmented figures in a domestic setting alongside more obscure ‘body objects’ such as fleshy and bruised columns. The fragmented bodies simultaneously hark back to classical times and pose a contemporary view; outwardly male in appearance, they do not depict an ideal body but rather create opposition to the long-held tradition of the female form as both subject and object.

Other Exhibitors:

Sarah Plant

Sarah Plant

There is narrative in everything. Materials are imbued with stories even before we start moulding them into shape. Clay is no exception, from...

Paul Kharade

Paul Kharade

I produce wheel-thrown vessels that I create with a sense of spontaneity, capturing the feeling of movement and growth. These qualities are...

Simone Youngman

Simone Youngman

There is so much beauty to be found in art history, particularly the figurative work of Rodin, Kahlo and Moore. There is an energy contained in...

Rebekah Barnett

Rebekah Barnett

“Life is like texture” Elizabeth day" (2020) Porcelain does what it wants, it remembers every touch we encounter on it and leaves a memory of our mistakes...

Lucy Turner

Lucy Turner

Through the outsourcing and mechanisation of labour and the outsourcing of materials, we have steadily become increasingly distanced from the objects that...

Rhyann Arthur

Rhyann Arthur

In this project I have been exploring the hierarchy of materials within ceramics as a study into the accustomed narratives of museum curation. The...