Decorative Ceramic ideas

Published : 27/07/2010 | Author: Lynette Morris-Hale

Here are some fantastic artwork ideas that are handmade, funky and expressive that one of our readers would like to share with us for our handmade and upcycled article section.

The Quirky Teapot

Lynette Morris-Hale makes decorative quirky little teapots that are 'functional' in that they can be used "once a year when the Queen comes to tea"!

Their ethos is beyond the decorative to aspects of the feminine. The jagged edges represent the trials of being a woman and the feminine decoration is a tribute to the quality of gentleness, tenderness and warmth associated with woman, mother, home maker, and caregiver.

Her fish platters are something that would not look out of place at the Mad Hatters Tea Party but are currently found in the store Anthropology in America.

Her Inspiration

“As an artist I am always moving forward, pushing clay /myself into areas of the unknown. I want to pay homage to the feminine- its a male world and more importantly feminine activities such as flower arranging, knitting etc are often laughed at by society at large as not important, not intellectual enough. But it’s our nurturing nature that allows us the attitude of mind to find the above satisfying and rewarding

My work is made of clay and glazes and is called ceramic art. I am happy to take orders. I have won National and Regional Awards for my ceramics as well. I also teach the subject from my home in Westville Durban.
My working method is one that embraces chance, freedom, spontaneity and tension. The selection and combinations of textures and shapes being made through on-the-spot choices based on what’s available. I keep collecting all things textural and have built up a box of treasures. This approach allows me to make full use of the Surrealist technique of generating surprise.

Often I can increase the prominence of elements within a work by placing them in contexts that appear contradictory .While this is a process that allows the subconscious to play a part I never-the-less begin each work with an idea of the theme/image that I wish to create.

My methods are as simple and as direct as possible allowing chance, the space to surprise (me) - a dialogue between my will and that of the material. Ceramic pieces must talk back to me and that is why I strive to get even my teapots to have a voice, a character. The clay is my co-artist and it never fails to delight me in its response to my guidance.

I challenge myself as an artist to be disturbed, to be experimental, to be innovative, to give birth to those magical images hovering at the fringes of my subconscious, always mindful of being a South African.
2010 has seen me involved in making strange fish platters- and teapots that evoke aspects of the feminine.”