a hand held

Exhibition of Ceramics by Deirdre Hawthorne

Delicate one-off sculptural vessels in paper-thin porcelain and red earthenware.  

My work and voice are rooted in the Irish landscape, in specific places that hold a charge for me - seashores, gardens, houses and city streets. 

Through my work I try to convey the layering of marks - physical and emotional, natural and unnatural, ancient, fresh, accidental or purposely inflicted, on places and people.

My forms are simple but the clay is deeply marked and smoke fired, pushing the vessels to the point of destruction. Many pieces are lost in the firing but the ones that survive are idiosyncratic and unrepeatable; fragile, dark, yet inherently resilient.