Contemporary Ceramic Artists using surface texture in their work

I came across the ceramic artist Natasha Lewer when I went to the BlindArt exhibition in Banbury. The exhibition had been designed for people with visual impairments and the work on display was by both sighted artists and artists with partial or little sight. The audience was actively encouraged to touch all of the exhibits. Natasha Lewer produces ceramic sculptures that are based on organic forms such as those found in the sea. A lot of her work is covered with a flocking material which makes it extremely tactile and enticing to touch. I contacted the artist to ask how she 'flocked' her pieces as I really like the effects that can be achieved with this method of working. Apparently it is a very complicated process involving specialist machinery so she has her work professionally flocked!

Natasha Lewer 'Barnacles' (ceramic and flocking)

Natasha Lewer 'Primaries' (glazed and flocked ceramic)

Natasha Lewer 'Red and blue blood cells' (ceramic and flocking)

I like the tactile quality of this work and the interesting organic forms that the artist produces. It is also nice to see work that is highly coloured since so much ceramic work at the moment is matt, white porcelain.

Another ceramic artist using texture in her work is Annette Bugansky. She produces forms that look like they have been knitted by way of impressing and slipcasting:

Annette Bugansky (detail)

Annette Bugansky

I really like the tactile quality of this work and it relates well to the work I have been doing with fabric and porcelain slip. I think it's a very interesting way of combining textiles and ceramics to produce work that can be explored through touch.

Ikuko Iwamoto is another interesting ceramic artist and she has produced ceramic work for the visually impaired. She has developed the tactile quality of her work using dots and spikes on the surface and she invites her audience to touch it:

Ikuko Iwamoto 'Spiky spiky bowl'

Ikuko Iwamoto 'Nucleolus pofupofu teapot'

I also really like the work of Tamsin van Essen. I first came across her work at the 'Skin' exhibition at the Wellcome Instute in London. She had produced two apothecary pots that were decorated to look like the skin disease psoriasis. Her work explores the stigma of diseases and the contemporary quest for perfection and beauty. She manipulates her ceramic works to accentuate blemishes and faults such as acne, syphillis and osteoporosis:

Tamsin van Essen 'Psoriasis' Apothecary jar 2008-2010

'Psoriasis' (detail)

I think the glazing effects that she achieves in her work are very impressive. She must have had to carry out an enormous amount of experiments with undergalzes, glazes, slips etc. to achieve the desired results of emulating certain human diseases. I am very interested in her work as it has strong links with medicine which fascinates me. I particularly like the 'psoriasis' pot above as the cream crackled glaze on the top of the piece reminds me of lace and it has a tactile quality reminiscent of fine fabric.