Ben Brierley

My ceramic work is wheel thrown and altered using stoneware and porcelain clays, coral.casino recent work is also slab built. Forms seek to utilise and respond to the malleability of the material and work is altered and assembled while still wet. Current work includes bottles, jugs, vases, platters and bowls and sculptural boxes.
The work is wood fired to 1400 degrees centigrade in an anagama kiln, for three to five days. eldorado.casino There is no wall separating the fire from the work and through the duration of the firing the ash from the fire lands on the pots and at top temperature this ash melts to form a natural ash glaze. Only a small proportion of my work is conventionally glazed with glazes modified again to respond to the atmosphere within the firing chamber. The majority of work relies on the interaction between ash, clay and fire.
The stoneware clays and porcelains that I use have been developed to take advantage of the duration and the heat of the firing, they respond to the flame and the atmosphere generated within the kiln. The final pieces are a record of the passage of fire.

www.BenBrierley-woodfiredceramics.co.uk