Art from Mars

About

An exhibition of ceramics and glass by Mel Mars RBSA that includes stoneware, raku fired pots, sui pots and glass pieces. These techniques create interesting textures and colours on the surface of the pots. 

'I concentrate on ceramics in my studio in Broseley, Shropshire, England. This is what I did for twenty years in Bala, Wales after leaving college, and then going to work eventually as a Principal Lecturer in Wolverhampton University. Please feel free to touch my pots! Pick them up, see how the light changes them when held at different angles and feel the textures when you stroke them.'

The pots in this exhibition are of three types:

1. Raku - a Japanese style of glazing where the glazed pot is pulled red hot from the kiln and plunged into organic material, giving the individual patterning and colours to the pot.

2. Stoneware - a hard-fired ceramic, particularly used for creating pottery which as well as having sculptural forms, can be used every day, to cook in and serve and eat food.

3. Sui (several coloured layers) - a Japanese method of colouring ceramic, where coloured clay runs through the thickness of the pot, not just on the surface. I am using this depth of colour by carving and cutting into the clay, both before and after firing.

The glass pieces were made in Kaunas (Lithuania).