FREYJA LEE

“Making slipware pottery feels for me exciting to be tapping into the age-old tradition of painting stories on vessels.”

Making pots is to me the meditative process of preparing my canvas. The malleability and playfulness of the clay brings my head into my hands and allows me dream time. The processes of slab building plates and the structured timeframes of the process also fitted very well around child rearing. Tending to, allowing to dry, painting on layers of slip until I have a blank, shaped, interesting surface to paint on- and then there's all the firing!

I use earthenware clay, slip, glaze, wax resist and gold lustre. The wax resist process of painting my imagery enables me to fulfil my love of printmaking. I paint the negative space and the wax burns away, a lot like making a woodblock or lino cut.

I find a lot of inspiration in folk art and imagery made in other materials- such as embroidery, the V and A is always a fruitful way to fill one's cup.

I like the way my work can bridge that gap of art and homeware. An object of use can also become a vessel for storytelling and an heirloom. Objects that fill the home with beauty and functionality.

I spent 5 years travelling getting lost. But it was becoming a mother and working with my mentor Tilly Young that grounded me in my practice in slipware pottery.

Freyja Lee studied printmaking at Falmouth University.