Maggie Andrews

Spending my childhood and formative years within the areas of the Wye Valley (Tintern) New Forest(No Man’s Land) and Wales) has provided continuing inspiration through the experienced landscape. The flora and fauna and seasonal changes have influenced an exploration through my work to reflect those unexpected instances that can be experienced in the natural environment at macro and micro level, being focussed and peripheral within the landscape.

I graduated from the Cardiff College of Art and Design in 1975 attaining a BA. Hons Ceramics degree. The main material I explored during this time was high fired porcelain; its properties I found were emphatic with the visual nuances of light and translucency found within landscape. Within the making process I was able to make paper thin and filament like forms and incorporate impressed surfaces of fine detail. Porcelain remains the material I work with and have done so throughout my career to date.

My first studio opened in 1975 and from work developed at this stage led to a series of exhibitions Internationally notable Prince Hirohito Japan Ambassador Yamazaki Japan, Frechen Museum Institute Statale D’Arte Castelli Biennale Collection Vallauris France and in collections found in USA Canada, Australia ,New Zealand Italy and notable in the collection of Prince Hirohito Yamazaki Japan Ambassador.

From such exposure within the contemporary field an invitation to showcase a collection of work in collaboration with John Makepeace furniture maker at the Mignon Gallery Bath. This opportunity instigated a dialogue between the strength and visual dynamic between large scale objects and the intricacy and fragile transience implied than actual encapsulated within the porcelain artefacts.

Further invitations were pursued in particular to exhibit in British Ceramics in New York and Sarasota. The exhibition include prominent makers including David Leach, Geoffrey Swindell, Mary Rogers, Sheila Casson, Joanna Constantinides, Anne James, Gordon Cooke, Sheila Fournier, Peter Wright and Peter Lane. This led to my work being included in Peter Lane’s first definitive publication ‘Studio Porcelain’.

I received a Craft Council Wales Research Fellowship Grant enabling a more in depth exploration of combustible firing techniques for high fired Porcelain and to investigate Raku Techniques aligned to lower temperatures and more robust ceramic materials. The conclusion of this research period culminated in a showcase exhibition in the National Museum of Wales Cardiff.

After this period I established a studio in 1984. I continued to develop my practice primarily for exhibition range of work included bowls pocket forms vases wall. Spring Summer Autumn and Winter flora and fauna continue to be of inspiration. Butterflies and dragonflies are intertwined in the matrix of the forms creating those fleeting moments entrapped in the translucent porcelain.

Since the Covid outbreak being resident in Brisbane Qld I have been able to explore and test out the porcelain clays available in Australia. This research has led to a new departure in my studio practice in the combination of black and white clays and introducing the flora of Queensland and the influence of the landscape upon it.

Gallery