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Moira Goodall MSDC

Ceramics

About Moira
Moira creates hand built contemporary vessels inspired by her discovery of the Essex salt marshes and tidal coast line where nature performs a complex dance to tidal rhythms. Moira, known for her unique smoke firing technique, has been refining this alternative and ancient firing process for over twenty years. With layered coloured slips and using her own masking methods she is able to create depth and texture to her vessels without the use of glazes. Her aim is to create vessels that through pattern, texture, colour and form communicate the spirit of the place at both large and small scale
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Currently working in a small studio overlooking the river Blackwater Estuary and Saltings in Essex, and using just hand building techniques such as pinching, coiling and a few basic tools, Moira builds her vessels one coil at a time, controlling the shape as it grows slowly and steadily, always mindful in finding a balance between manmade and organic forms. The process is therapeutic as she works in a calm and intuitive way.

"My vessels are contemplative and tactile and are strongly influenced by my relationship with my surroundings. In my work I seek to capture the essence of this soft estuary landscape by exploring organic patterns, textures, colours and forms, especially that which comes from the natural organic weathering process."

The technique of smoke firing has been at the centre of Moira's work since she discovered it at college, some 20 years ago. With no one to guide her, she developed her own unique methods. Since that time Moira has refined her unique processes, developing masking methods to create patterns and energy in the surfaces. The layering of the slips, the type of clay, the texture of the surface, the masking and depth of sawdust firings, from dark to light, all have an effect and allow her to set the tone of each piece.

Her aim is to create work that is as individual as a stone on her beach, an entity that is always part of a larger whole as each vessel carries and communicates to others the spirit of the place that inspires her work.

Each vessel represents a balance between random, spontaneous element of smoke firing and her intended design. The spontaneity of the fire and smoke, acting like a natural weathering force, is the source of energy in her work, bringing the vessels to life, as nature has her final say.

Moira became a full time artist in 2020 after a career in Marketing Communications and raising a family.

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Education

  • 2007 City and Guilds Diploma in 3D Craft - Ceramics


Organisation and Societies

  • 2023 Selected member of the Craft Potters Association
  • 2022 Selected member of the Suffolk Craft Society
  • 2007 Selected member of Anglian Potters
  • 2024 London Potters


Exhibitions, Fairs and Galleries

2025 to date

  • Whitewater Gallery, Polzeath, Cornwall
  • Ickworth House with Suffolk Craft Society
  • Potfest, Haughley Park, Suffolk
  • Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
  • Ceramic Art London, Olympia
  • London Craft Week - selected by Suffolk Craft Society
  • Contemporary Ceramics, London


2024 and before

  • Sculpt Contemporary Ceramics Gallery
  • MADE London - selected by Suffolk Craft Society
  • Gallery 57, Cloth and Clay, Arundel
  • Contemporary Ceramics, London, New members Show
  • House of GRA, Berlin
  • RHS Hyde hall - with Anglian Potters
  • New Brewery Arts
  • Highgate Contemporary Arts
  • Thrown Winter Exhbition
  • Ferini Gallery, Lowestoff
  • SOTA, Oxford
  • Fire and Flux, Norwich
  • Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds, with Suffolk Craft Society




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