This October the Liverpool Irish Festival returns, celebrating the finest in contemporary and traditional Irish culture and Liverpool’s unique relationship with Ireland. In celebration and support of this year’s festival we have invited the acclaimed Belfast ceramic artist Sara Flynn to exhibit In the Window for the month of October.
"My work concentrates on the challenges of thrown forms, which are then altered and changed at varying stages of the drying process, producing Sculptural Decorative Vessels. In essence, the major concerns that my work deals with are a love of the process of throwing, an on-going relationship with porcelain and a fascination with the theme of the vessel, in both literal and abstracted interpretations. Having begun my career producing small-scale functional pots, as my skill and confidence have increased I have moved entirely into making one-off vessels which are purely sculptural in their intent.
Increasingly the main elements feeding the development of the work are Process and Finish; coupled with constant exploration and a deepening understanding of Form and Volume. My making-environment offers the solitude of a private, quiet studio which provides a space for great focus: and allows me to ‘play’. This risk-taking (making pieces which are exploring something new but are in themselves unsuccessful aesthetic objects) is fundamental to my practice – during a development stage such as this only 20% of work may be seen through to fired-finish. Without this research stage the new, exciting and successful pieces could not result. It is a labour of love and admitted-obsession." - Sara Flynn