Saskia Raw

BA (Hons) Ceramics

Saskia Raw

The stacked tea bowls pose a contradiction between function and sculpture, referencing human interaction and the more compositional concerns of weight, shape, form and balance. The consequence of this is a sense of unpredictability, of familiar objects moving into and out of view.

The bowls look as though they could topple over in places and the raku glaze creates natural cracks and an unpredictable, unique pattern.

To receive this effect on the vessels, they have to go through an incredibly traumatic process which I compare to human beings. I believe that people have to go through good times and bad to become who they are as a person, in comparison, the ceramic vessel has to be heated to extreme temperatures and then cooled quickly, set on fire and cracked to become what it is.
The way in which the stacks are testing balance represents how people are all different and how trauma throws people off balance to the point where they are about to give up. This conveys a sense of exploring life and the struggle to claim identity.


Mae’r pentwr o bowlenni te yn cyfleu anghysondeb rhwng swyddogaeth a cherflunwaith, gan gyfeirio at ryngweithio dynol ac ystyriaethau mwy cyfansoddiadol pwysau, siâp, ffurf a chydbwysedd. Canlyniad hyn yw ymdeimlad o natur anrhagweladwy, gwrthrychau cyfarwydd sy’n symud i’r golwg ac o’r golwg.

Mae’r powlenni’n edrych fel pe gallent ddymchwel mewn mannau ac mae’r gwydredd raku’n creu craciau naturiol a phatrwm unigryw na ellir ei ragweld.

Er mwyn cael yr effaith hon ar y llestri, mae’n rhaid iddyn nhw fynd drwy broses hynod drawmatig yr wyf yn ei chymharu â bodau dynol. Dwi’n credu bod rhaid i bobl fynd trwy gyfnodau da a drwg i ddatblygu fel pobl, ac fel cymhariaeth, rhaid cynhesu’r llestri ceramig i dymheredd eithafol ac yna eu hoeri’n gyflym, eu rhoi ar dân a’u cracio er mwyn creu’r hyn ydyn nhw.
Mae’r ffordd y mae’r pentyrrau’n profi cydbwysedd yn cynrychioli sut mae pobl yn wahanol i gyd a sut mae trawma yn taflu pobl oddi ar eu hechel tan iddynt gyrraedd pen eu tennyn bron iawn. Mae hyn yn cyfleu ymdeimlad o archwilio bywyd a’r frwydr i hawlio hunaniaeth.

www.rawceramics.myportfolio.com

Other Exhibitors:

Rosie Harman

Rosie Harman

My work expresses the personal: the highs and lows of the lived experience, illustrated through an enlivening combination of colour and pattern, figuration...

Jane L MacFarlane

Jane L MacFarlane

I collect ceramics because I feel connections in the stories that they embody. I see them as gateways to the tacit complexities of lives lived. Objects can tell...

Faye Green

Faye Green

As a maker I am inspired by historical events and the people around me, transforming this into unique illustrations applied to a diverse collection of surfaces...

Emily Whitworth

Emily Whitworth

My work explores the energy and vibrancy I see in the world that surrounds me. The work is a mirror of the qualities I see. Using extruders, slips and glazes I...

Clare Stephens

Clare Stephens

My previous profession as a midwife compliments the values and ideas within my ceramics, fostering an appreciation of diversity, unity, fragmentation and...

Nicholas Stenhouse

Nicholas Stenhouse

Material Synergies: Capturing the Immediacy of Thought & Feeling As an artist, I employ the agency of ceramics to anchor my subjective emotion. The work in turn...