Jim Kelleher

Sinéad Fagan

Skibbereen

About

Sinéad is based in West Cork. Her work is thrown on the wheel and hand built, finishing with a fuming technique using clay saggars.

‘I enjoy exploring the relationship between line and colour and how they interact together creating movement and direction. 

I use simple curved forms such as convex wall discs and rounded vessels. The curved form has a softness which is enhanced by the low fired clay. Without a hard glaze covering, the tactile nature of naked clay remains.

I see each form as a blank canvas and visualise the colours and tones I can achieve. By placing a dark line or bands of contrasting colour across a uniform area, horizon like imagery appears. Earthy colours and soft curved lines are reminiscent of the Irish rural landscape and the changing weather patterns. 

The resulting effects are abstract: tree lines in the distance, reflections in a lake’s surface, sunset horizons, and stormy rain clouds.

The colours and markings are achieved by using found objects like wire and organic materials, which are wrapped around the work in the saggar. Coloured fumes are released from thesobjects during the firing, seeping into the ceramic piece’s surface.

It’s an unpredictable technique and each firing produces very different results. No two pieces are the same.’