Biography: Siân is a Glasgow based ceramicist principally making thrown stoneware pieces characterised by a quiet precision and gentle abstraction. Her work references a wide range of influences - from Victorian pharmaceutical and preserving bottles, to seventeenth century Dutch paintings of domestic interiors, to the still lives of Giorgio Morandi. The connection is an interest in the domestic - in particular the objects, rituals and rhythms that characterise it. By assembling and arranging the work into formal groupings or ‘functional still lives’, Siân investigate the point at which an object or collection of objects can be both familiar and distinctive.
Siân trained as an architect in Nottingham and London before moving to Glasgow in 2005 to complete her architectural studies at the Glasgow School of Art. This included postgraduate research focusing on the characteristics of the domestic interior, and the representational techniques available to engage with that character.
In 2010, Siân returned to her childhood interest in clay and started taking evening classes in both hand building and wheel throwing. She began practicing ceramics full time as a studio member at Fireworks Studio in Glasgow in 2012 and more recently Glasgow Ceramics Studio, where she has been a full time member since 2016. Over the past 10 years, she has taken part in a wide variety of exhibitions and shows across the UK, as well as invited ceramics exhibitions in London, Faenza and Milan.
Work Statements: This series of wheel thrown pieces was developed to allow me to adopt a more conscious use of materials, finding colour and texture from the clay itself and from more sustainable materials. The soft, earthy tones contrast with the regularity of the angular forms.