Vivien Shelton

My journey in ceramics began around the mid 2000s at Sunningwell School of Art. In 2019 I decided to go it alone and bought my kiln and am now happily settled in my back garden in Oxford.

I strive to create simple flowing forms that have movement and elegance. I often return to the vessel form as I find this very satisfying. Some of my work is functional but this is not the main concern and I will often leave a piece unglazed, either to show the natural beauty of the clay itself or to decorate with slips and oxides which allow the vessel to breathe and give an illusion of warmth and softness.

Using a variety of stoneware clays, all my work is made by hand using primitive methods such as pinching, coiling, sometimes slab building and refining. This is a very slow technique but deeply satisfying and one which gives character to the work and ensures that every piece is unique and intentionally not perfect.