STATEMENT:
My work explores surface and form. All vessels become canvasses for gestural brushwork and instinctive marks. Depending on the temperament of the piece, marks range from spontaneous incisions to abstract imagery. Elemental glazes evoke the landscape; locally foraged clays echo the colours of the land.
“When mark-making, I lose myself in the process. I experience a sense of exhilaration which I endeavour to retain in the energy of the final piece.”
Neumes - Porcelain’s intrinsic surface characteristics offers a blank canvas for a series of improvised motifs and symbols evoking the concept of ‘score’. I endeavour to allow for moments of chance and the unexpected to find their way into my work. Marks are applied spontaneously to wheel thrown porcelain vessels. Each piece is unique. I particularly enjoy hearing people’s distinctly personal interpretations of the marks. Porcelain vessels are high fired, glazed internally and the polished surface brings an added tactile element to the piece.
Land and Sea vessels - Wheel thrown stoneware with locally foraged clays, slips and satin glaze. - Winning the Henderson Bursary award last year included a solo in the beautiful coastal village of Pittenweem. To mark this moment, I developed the Land and Sea collection which brings the earthy tones of the land together with the icy blues found in the East coast of Scotland. The clays and glazes react in the heat of the kiln to unique surface-textures and tones.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Alford is an award-winning Irish artist living and working in Scotland.
Jennifer grew up in Dublin and studied violin and music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and University College Dublin. Recognising the value of a strong formal background as a bedrock for improvisation, she trained in the tradition of production pottery at the prestigious Ceramics Skills and Design Course in Thomastown, Ireland.
At the potter’s wheel, she creates contemporary ceramics in porcelain and stoneware. Leveraging abstract creative processes learned through studying and performing music, Jennifer endeavours to allow for moments of chance and the unexpected to find their way into her ceramic practice.
She lives and works from a former grain mill in the heart of the Angus countryside.
AWARDS: Jennifer graduated in 2020 and was awarded the Design and Craft Council of Ireland’s Future Maker award. She has won several awards since returning to Scotland including Visual Artist and Craft Makers Award, the Henderson Bursary Award and Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Emerging Maker award. She is currently shortlisted for the Inches Carr Craft Development Award.
She is a professional member of both Visual Arts Scotland and the Society of Scottish Artists. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Ireland