Victoria Dawes

I use red earthenware – the most abundant clay on the Earth’s surface. Through its formation process the clay travels through glaciers, rivers and streams – breaking down and picking up oxides and detritus that provide its rich colour and low firing properties.

Having emigrated between England and New Zealand at an early age, choosing to travel and study in the Upper Midwest of America, I feel connected to earthenware as a material affected and formed by the places it has passed through.

Using the potter’s wheel and slow repetitive mark-making processes, my practice is a meditation on the past as I make tableware inspired by memories of my home. Drawn from a romanticised nostalgia for people, places and traditions, I bring together snippets of banister spindles, soft drapery, embroidery and loose pyjamas to decorate pieces to be used and shared around today’s tables. Built from memories of the past at the beginning of new traditions, my cups and plates find life on and off well-loved sideboards, growing in character as they pick up chips on their rims – the patina of a life well lived.

www.victoriaclairedawes.com