DYLAN BOWEN
“I think my lightbulb moment happened at least 15 years ago. I am still searching but it is okay. I am wary though of having a formula, thinking I have cracked the code but invented a set of rules for myself. The feeling of satisfaction is surely my enemy. I need to stay focused on trying to create work that has real freedom in it, freedom from materials, method or mentality.”
Dylan Bowen makes handbuilt earthenware plates, alongside sculptural objects and pots. The surface design is created using slips which are poured, ladled, trailed on to the plates. Marks are made quickly using trailers while the layers of slip are still wet.
“Though Dylan's work has its roots in traditional slipware, its has many contemporary and cultural influences. He aims to capture some of the dynamism and spontaneity of the making process in the finished work.”
Dylan Bowen studied at Camberwell School of Art. Recent exhibtions include ‘Dylan Bowen’, the Porthminster Gallery, St Ives, Slipware: Sources of Inspiration - Dylan Bowen and Elizabeth Newbery’, Sewell Centre Gallery, Radley College, Abingdon. ‘Slipware’, Oxford Ceramics Gallery at Fen Ditton Gallery, Cambridge. ‘The Slip Trail’, The Clay Loft, Stroud.
“I grew up in a pottery in North Devon. My father, Clive Bowen, still works at Shebbear. He makes slip-decorated earthenware, pots to be used, fired in a large wood-fired kiln. On my mother Alison’s side of the family, my great grandfather, grandfather, cousins and uncles were all potters. Today I feel privileged to come from such a long line of makers, but early on, clay and slip were not necessarily part of my plans. I did, however, end up working for Clive for two years after leaving school. I stacked wood, mixed glaze, attempted to become a production thrower and absorbed a lot more than I realised. I then went to Camberwell School of Art to study Ceramics, graduating in 1991. I didn’t realise how lucky I was to have been in the Ceramics Department at Camberwell at that time."
