This vase is coil built in white earthenware clay and hand decorated in bright underglaze colours.

 

My task was to create an ornamental vase depicting India. My client who requested the artwork spends lots of time exploring and going on Arts and Textile tours immersing herself in the rich culture and historical relics India has to offer. I have never been to India, so collecting the inspiration for this piece was a huge task but very enjoyable. I used books from my client on the unique craft and textile traditions in areas of India, YouTube travel vlogs on street food, the top tourist destinations and must see places. Google Images and Pinterest were a great source for searching for other illustrators interpretations of animals or objects.

 

Whenever I make a large coil vase I remind myself of Grayson Perry's work and the scale and detail or his big vases and their deep and thoughtful illustrations. 

 

I began the project on the 1st January 2021 and the vase was finished by the end of February. I created rough sketches of how I envisioned the vase to look. Building the main body and lid took around a week and it was the painting and illustrating which required maximum concentration and thought as I considered how I was going to weave my ideas together on the surface of the pot. My Artwork evolves once I am in the flow of making. Therefore a lot of my illustrations came together as painted. I picked different sections of the vase to focus on and then moved to the next, eventually filling all the spaces and merging the images to sit in harmony with each other. The vase had two firings, a bisque followed by a glaze firing. It was a hefty job glazing such a large piece but I was delighted at the end result.