Alex Shimwell

My work I explore the relationships between the processes that make the piece and the effects they create, as well as the relationship between the pot and the user.

I make solely wheel thrown, high fired, porcelain objects with a functional purpose.

My aesthetic ideas are grounded in the traditions of British studio pottery which takes its inspiration of aesthetic idiom from Japanese culture.

In my pieces I attempt to attain a balance between my aesthetic purpose: to display and manipulate the properties of each stage of the creative process into a balanced confident piece. And my personal belief that the beauty of a pot is as much in its visual presence as it is in how it functions.

The communication between person and pot though initially always visual; the tactile responses stimulated by its use are where a truer understanding and appreciation of the form, the pot and the potters personality lie.

Education & experience

Staffordshire university graduated 2007

Throwing with Numagouchi San Japanese Jomon ware potter

Demonstion thrower Gladstone pottery Museum

Public Art Commissions & Appearances

Chatterley Whitfield commission installation 2008

Demonstrator for Burslem arts 2008

Demonstrator for Burslem arts 2009

Burslem Christmas festival 2009

Exhibition coordinator and exhibitor at ceramic British ceramics biennial 2009

B arts commission 250 vases for clay British ceramics biennial 2009

Featured in Derbyshire life Christmas gift Guide 2008