Hand made pottery by Amy Shennan in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

BA  Hons in Three-Dimensional Design

Gray's School of Art, 2014

A fluid and pliable material which is shaped by the hands into the endless possibilities of the forms and colours of the imagination and subjected to immense heat to become something new, something solid, something to stand the test of time.

Clay.

                                                 Amy Shennan

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About

Amy Shennan graduated in 2014 with a second class honours degree in Three-Dimensional Design from Grays School of Art.  She specialised in decorative tableware, producing beautiful blue and white hand painted tea sets for her final year show.  Part of her studies included a placement in her fourth year with Highland Stoneware.   After graduating Amy studied further under Jenny Mackenzie Ross of Northshore Pottery where she had the official title of graduate assistant potter.  Since this time she has continued to develop her unique, usable and decorative tableware ranges while in residence within Grays School of Art and now from her own pottery workshop at home.

Amy’s work is inspired by the landscape of Scotland; “I spend a lot of time outside (despite the freezing conditions!) drawing what I see, this ranges from the rabbits and flowers in my garden to the exotic waves and cliffs of Durness.  I love exploring all parts of the countryside of Scotland and enjoy sharing these imageries and emotions through my ceramic works.  I want to share how beautiful Scotland is with the rest of the world.

My work often contains what I call "a sense of touch".  This is a very simple idea; for me, exploring the landscape has never been just about gazing upon it but also exploring it, touching the surfaces and feeling the textures of the world around you.  This notion has inspired many of the forms and textures within my usable ceramic pieces."

Amy specialises in usable objects such as tableware and vases but she also finds herself making more sculptural pieces as she discovers more about the medium that is clay; “Clay is such a versatile material, it can be manipulated into any shape, texture and colour of my choice.  There are many processes to be found within pottery and I am slowly discovering more of them.  At university I mainly worked with mould making and slip casting but since graduating I have been focusing on the more traditional and well known ceramic technique of throwing on the potter’s wheel.  There is much more freedom with this process, I can change shapes slightly where I want and there is less uniformity which I enjoy.  I have been getting a lot of inspiration from working on the potters wheel.  This one process alone has many different levels I am yet to penetrate.  Sometimes I find the clay almost acting of its own accord (mainly this means I am not doing it properly!) but the results can be very beautiful, flowing forms. It feels like the clay is taking me on a journey towards a more sculptural way of working.”

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Amy's unique style of pottery will open your eyes to a new world of ceramic art

2016 NEOS Directory