Browse our full directory of Worcestershire based artists and makers, those taking part in our August Art Week are indicated by the venue number sign below.
Chris Russell – At The End of the Garden
Art Forms
Ceramics & Pottery, Sculpture, Woodwork
Artist information
Over the years I’ve worked with silver, wood and clay. Each is very different but clay is that extra bit different. There is something about working a material directly with your hands, no tools, no machines, that sets it apart from what I have done before.
And as to my ideas – it’s a mix of influences over many years. The form of the pots has been strongly influenced by my time as a silversmith but also Japanese tea bowls. I first looked closely at textures photographing the ancient trees in Greenwich Park over 40 years ago, ideas reinforced with my recent forays into Green Woodworking. There is also a lot that I have taken from times on beaches, clambering over rocks, especially those with white quartz veins, so I suppose it comes down to a fascination with the, textures, colours and forms in the natural world.
While I’ve run workshops building single burn Paper-Clay kilns, which can result in heavily carbonised and smoke impregnated finishes – another influence, working with clay with any direction has only happened very recently. My first firings were earlier this year, and I’ve focused on using coloured and highly grogged stoneware. Glazes are a combination of pre-mixed powdered glaze with different ground clays in various proportions.
Website and social media
Art Week Venue
Chris Russell
