2025
This summer I really enjoyed exhibiting in North Wales, Warwickshire and Oxford.
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Ceramic Wales
Bodrhyddan Hall
14 & 15 June
www.ceramicwales.com
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Potfest By The Lake
Compton Verney
20, 21 & 22 June
https://potfest.co.uk/visit/potfest-by-the-lake-compton-verney/
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Celebrating Ceramics
11, 12 & 13 July
https://www.celebratingceramics.co.uk/
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In June I exhibited at Potfest Scotland for the first time after many years of really wanting to. A fantastic show that I will definitely look to add to my calendar from now on. Set in beautiful
grounds, well organised and I'm sure a delight to visit for ceramics enthusiasts.
Another new show in July was equally welcome. A return to Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire and many happy memories of Art in Action. Celebrating Ceramics presented by Craft in Focus was a
brilliant new show.
www.potfest.co.uk/Potfest-Scotland/
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Clare Wakefield in her studio
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Clare Wakefield works on the Kent coast and her environment and love of the sea is clearly reflected in her ceramics. To inspire her for the day ahead, whatever season, she often has an early
morning sea swim.
Clare delves into a combination of themes from nature and our world. She is drawn to water and exploring coastlines, and has to be in or on the water wherever she visits. One of her most
memorable travels was to the dramatic coastlines of New Zealand. Flowing lines evoke thoughts of ever moving oceans. Further elements remind us of the creatures that call the seas their home.
Birth, regeneration and the bond between mother and child are recurring themes.
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Clare Wakefield Dish
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Clare Wakefield Globe
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Another conspicuous aspect of Clare’s work is in the challenging engineering and the desire to push the clay to its limits. Many pieces are pierced to such a degree that the body is barely
there. The piercings themselves play with the piece to induce the idea of movement and growth. Her use of blue, green and white glazes on a porcelain body also draw feelings of the underwater
world that inspires her.
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Clare Wakefield Pods
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Clare’s love of ceramics started at school. She was encouraged by an enthusiastic teacher and spent free periods and other lessons she could miss in the school pottery taking her first steps
exploring the medium. After school she did a foundation year, then a BTEC course at Kent Institute of Art and Design followed by a degree at Cardiff, during which time she also studied in
Limoges. Through tutorials and various course projects, with tutors including Mick Casson, Alan Barrett Danes, Peter Beard and Geoff Swindell, Clare's work began to find a natural path of
progression. It was at Cardiff that she felt she could really push the boundaries and explore and develop the shapes, and methods of presentation. Sea Pods were hung from high, placed in boxes,
balanced on pebbles, placed inside one another.
Lovely to be part of the Valentine Clay Calendar 2016, details of how you can buy one and donate to Lisa Hammond's Adopt a Potter below.
2015 exhibitions and events were:
7th March to 18th April - Sea Nature Exhibition at The Sea Pictures Gallery, Suffolk
2nd and 3rd May - Clay2day Holland
3rd-5th July Hatfield Art in Clay.
16th to 19th July Art in Action, Oxfordshire
11th to 13th September Ceramic Art York
10th to 11th October Innovations
in Ceramic Art - Cambridge Guild Hall
14th and 15th November Art in Clay Farnham
Please see home page for a few examples of new work that will be available. I look forward to seeing you there!
Ceramic Art York 9th - 11th September
