Katie Pruden
Throughout the summer holidays of her childhood Katie would scour the Cornish beaches for stones and pebbles whose shapes and surfaces, colours, patterns and textures corresponded to the ideals of her personal aesthetic. Returning home with her pockets (and those of her parents) bulging with these treasured souvenirs she began the fascination with natural forms impacted by the elements which became the fundamental inspiration of her work as a ceramic artist.
Katie finds pleasure in seeing the vastness of erosion and weathering, of geographical and geological change, of time and decay, expressed microcosmically in a fragment of rock. She incorporates her visual and tactile responses to these phenomena in her work through abstract interpretations using press-moulding, hand-building and carving techniques. Contrasts feature prominently in Katie's work: contrasting shapes, surfaces, colours, techniques and processes. Spiky and smooth, light and dark, controlled and unpredictable - it is through the tension of these contrasts that she ultimately creates the balance within each piece.
The making process is controlled. Katie spends a great deal of time smoothing the surface, but spikes are often added one by one to provide a pleasing contrast. Smoke firing is then used to introduce an unpredictable surface pattern to the ceramic forms. Finally copper leaf is used to embellish the surface adding warmth and vibrancy to the finished piece. Katie's work has frequently employed the sphere as its predominant shape, recently she has begun to manipulate and extend this form whilst still retaining the surfaces that have become intrinsic to her working practice. Coiling and extruding techniques have been introduced to achieve more elongated shapes that create an interesting development from her pebble forms and indicate the new directions she intends to explore in the future.
Don’t hesitate to email us on info@cambridgegallery.co.uk or call us on 01223 324222 if you have any questions about specific pieces.
