Adela Powell – Artist’s Statement.
I work intuitively, I have ideas and I play with clay. The results of this interaction are sometimes exciting and unexpected, leading me to develop new forms. The challenge then is to overcome the technical and aesthetic considerations in order to resolve each piece.
Exploring the nature of clay in forms both figurative and vessel based preoccupy me. I enjoy making both strands of work because references of vessel/figure/landscape are, to me, interchangeable.
The metamorphic (landscape/figure) forms evolved initially from my response to the natural environment and our relationship with it; other influences seem to have crept in from my subconscious – pre-historic memory, genetic information, modern social and political situations, and personal thoughts. The figure as metaphor for vessel evokes other areas of investigation on a spiritual or mystical level. Vessel forms, whether landscape or anthropomorphically inspired might be loosely conceptual, or actually useful! My work is not an intellectual comment, but an emotional response to these issues. I attempt to distil a sense of all this into forms which (hopefully) communicate and resonate with the onlooker in whatever way the work is “read”.
The pieces are hand built using various techniques, incorporating the tactile, textural qualities inherent in clay (which will be further enhanced by oxides slips and glazes.) The forms, surface and method of making are all integrated but the process of making always offers other choices and options and with the glaze firings adding their own dynamics it becomes a journey into the unknown.
At present work is constructed in stoneware, (sometimes incorporating paper-clay, terracotta and porcelain) and fired to about 1240° C.
The pieces of work on this site are examples of Adela's work, for details of available art and prices please contact Adela on 01 503 240634
Adela Powell.
Originally read Zoology at Liverpool University before attending Plymouth College of Art and Design as a mature student (1976-1978) while bringing up a young family.
1978- Student Exhibitor with Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Dartington, Devon.
1983- Solo Exhibition “Natural Dimensions” Serenade Arts, Barbican, Plymouth. (Featured on BBC television, “Arts Today”)
1985- Solo Exhibition “Not Just Pottery, but Art” Serenade Arts, Barbican, Plymouth.
Re married and moved to Cornwall, bringing up new young family while continuing to play and experiment with clay and ideas, eventually re-establishing a Workshop Studio and Gallery near Looe.
