Emma Baldwin's ceramic vessels merge functionality and sculpture, creating a minimalist Japanese inspired aesthetic. She uses both contemporary and historic references, combining hand thrown and wheel spun building techniques. Glazing each piece with designs that accentuate their elegant shapes, Emma experiments with the chemical reactions of overlapping glazes in the kiln.
In her debut collection at Sarah Wiseman Gallery, we see slender necked vases with nods to traditional Cobalt Blue, interiors of turquoise and oxides in the kiln that bubble into gas forming earthy textures. Emma says ‘If the kiln gods have been kind, when I lift the lid, I see magic, alchemy! I love seeing the reactions where one glaze has melded into another or run over an underlying oxide to create subtle blends or big bursts of colour.’
Emma was introduced to clay at the age of 14 and has worked with it ever since. She attended Bristol Polytechnic in 1992 and was taught by Walter Keeler and Mo Jupp, two potters she found truly inspiring. Emma then went on to teach and run the Abingdon & Witney College Art & Design Foundation Diploma course, and after 30 years has moved on to begin her venture as a full-time ceramicist with collections shown internationally.