Kate Welton gained her 1st Class BA (Hons) Design Crafts at De Montfort University, Leicester in 2015 and immediately won Potclays Graduate Award 2015.
Potclays is a 4th generation, family owned and managed business operating primarily as a clay manufacturer and a supplier of a wide range of materials and equipment for ceramic. They have been in the clay mining and processing business for 83 years and as such are one of the oldest independent, family run, suppliers of ceramic materials, kilns and equipment in the UK.
Kate’s ceramic collection is inspired by traditional gardening tools and processes. Sieves, watering can roses and seed packets gathered from her grandfather’s shed all possess a simple beauty, whilst unchanged activities such as sowing and cultivating offer a sense of longevity.
These processes are subtly referenced by Kate in her ceramic work.
Colanders hint at watering and jar-like vases allude to storing and gathering.
Drawing is integral to Kate’s practice, and the forms of the garden tools are considered and abstracted, creating a catalogue of surface pattern designs.
The simple forms of her thrown collection provide a canvas onto which she paints with slips, using a variety of techniques to build up layers of decoration.
Kate is one of fifteen designer/makers that are members of Design Factory and part of our current Summer 2017 exhibition with them called EMERGE.
Please call in to see Kate’s functional ceramics she is showcasing with us soon; you won’t be disappointed- the exhibition runs until 8th October x
