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Claire Ireland MSDC

Ceramics

About Claire
Claire produces elegant hand-built sculptural forms on different scales – collectable objects, inspired by her studio’s location in the grounds of a historical steam museum in London. Her working practice as a ceramic sculptor is changing and is drawn to a more minimal and reductive strategy, simplifying structures, but constantly enhancing and developing the surface.
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Claire Ireland produces elegant, hand-built sculptural forms; collectable objects, inspired by her studio’s location in the grounds of a historical steam museum in London, alongside a diverse array of visual research. She creates ceramic components, making structures in various ways using different clays and incorporating experimental surfaces as she goes.

Claire is constantly making collections of man-made and natural forms. The discipline of drawing, her continuous sketchbook studies and her passion for printmaking are of prime importance to her. She views the process of the ceramic assemblages, akin to collage and delights in that element of chance.

She explores the disparity between materials and surface, precise graphic notions, the strength of fractured solid clay, the delicate cast of a plant fragment or the ethereal qualities of a smoky surface. They are an integral part of her process. Her approach resonates with the notion of “Ma”, a specific Japanese concept of negative space, which evokes a deeper sense of a “gap” or “pause” that gives new shape and meaning to the whole. It is not just about a minimal approach, almost making emptiness into a substance itself. The final stages of combining the ceramic components are crucial to a successful outcome, intrinsically the clincher.

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Claire studied ceramics and printmaking at Camberwell School of the Arts, London and is a dedicated hand builder. She revels in how ideas emerge from the process of making and experimenting with materials and techniques.

Claire has made sculptural pieces to commission for specific locations and completed an artist-in-residence at the Pimlico Academy, a newly built secondary school in central London, developing a ceramic and steel installation for their roof garden with years 10 and 11.

She also designed a commemorative Portland stone panel of Pocahontas, marking the 400th Anniversary of her death, which has been installed on the boundary wall of the Syon Park Estate, one of the last great houses of London.

An experienced tutor, Claire teaches surface decoration and innovative ways of making. She has designed short courses on smoke and saggar firing and experimental paperclay techniques.

She is a professional member of the Craft Potters Association, the Society of Designer Craftsmen and Design Nation. Her book, commissioned by The Crowood Press on “Surface Decoration for Ceramics” was published in January 2023.



Recent contributions to galleries

  • Tregony Contemporary, London and Cornwall
  • Contemporary Ceramics Centre, Bloomsbury
  • Contemporary Applied Arts, Marylebone
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