KELLY JESSIMAN

St Leonards-on-Sea based ceramicist Kelly Jessiman builds her forms at the family dinner table and each piece is fired and glazed in her garden shed. She takes a wide range of inspiration from contemporary paintings and ancient artefacts. Each stage is an organic process, the clay often takes on a life of its own which leads to the final form and from there she decides how it will be glazed.

Kelly enjoys the process of pottery and the unpredictable outcomes it presents. Her pieces are experimental, playing with the juxtaposition of neatly made traditional shapes against the organic imperfections inherent in the act of hand building.

Her pieces are often distinguished with a unique quality of unpredicted contrasts of colour and hand built imperfection. With a background in fine art sculpture each piece is heavily influenced on forms drawn from art history, amidst the enjoyment of the unpredictable nature of working with clay. Kelly’s inspiration comes from near and far, lately looking into the works of Matisse and creating a literal version of ceramics featured within his paintings.