Landscape Vessel
Hilary Mayo

‘Never ending lava fields, icebergs beached on black volcanic sand, geothermal springs and steaming rivers, snowy peaks and glacial lagoons.’ Ceramic artist Hilary Mayo describes the stunning landscape on a visit to Iceland.

People often ask artists where their ideas come from and are curious about the mysterious process of creation. These deceptively simple sculptural vessels – made in London after Mayo’s Icelandic adventure – demonstrate clearly how the artistic process works. There is skill of course. In this case, construction involves finely rolled slabs of stoneware clay manipulated to form a canvas on which five layers of glaze are applied with a brush. But the inspiration comes directly from the experience of the ‘strange addictive beauty’ of the Icelandic terrain. A pot is never just a pot. It carries within its very construction a story about its maker and their response to the endlessly inspirational world in which we all live.

Art in focus is curated by Meryl Doney

Photograph: ©Cristian Barnett

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This article was published in the February 2019 edition of Reform

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