Detail
Wheel-thrown and altered stoneware
H 30 cm, w 17 cm
About Emily Gibbard
"By manipulating, tearing and stacking vessels thrown on the potter’s wheel, I create sculptural representations of womanhood. Clay is my passion - it comes off the wheel with incredible tensile strength and yet reponds easily to touch and pressure. I work intuitively, exploring possibilities and responding to limits of the material. In the same way that our skin bends and folds across our bodies, the clay contorts and drapes itself around the pressure of my touch, storing it to memory."
"I seek freedom of expression and celebration of what it is to be female. My pieces are an abstraction of the human form, referencing curves and contours, shapes and movement. Over time I have come to realise the importance of following my own natural cycle in the creative production of my work. I include elements of domestic ware and references to the rich traditions of my craft."
"Once sculpted, I sit with my forms and attune to the stance, posture and sentiment of the piece before adding bold gestural marks. My glazes are brushed, poured and trailed across the surface, adding movement and life.”
Emily Gibbard is a Bristol-based ceramic artist known for her thrown-and-altered semi-abstract work depicting elements of the female form. Born in 1982, Emily grew up in Suffolk. She studied oil painting and took inspiration from the work of Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud. She went on to study Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex and in Chile with specialisms in gender politics and prehistoric art.
In 2016, following the birth of her third child, Emily began her love affair with clay, exploring and nourishing her creative side. Emily acquired her ceramics skills through pottery courses, shared ceramics studios, mentoring and attending a variety of ceramics events. She then began to exhibit and sell her work both locally and internationally.
In 2021, Emily was awarded Arts Council funding to focus on developing larger scale sculptural work. Inspired by sculptors such as Elsa Sahal and Henry Moore, she has developed methods of altering and stacking thrown forms to represent the female form.