Carys Davies
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Carys Davies began with a career in engineering, wanting to solve problems through materials and design, but increasingly solving problems about systems, people, and information. Working ever more in the digital world, she decided to go back the basics of materials and making, and re-trained as a potter at Harrow (University of Westminster), eventually graduating in 2007. Carys worked for contemporary artist Edmund de Waal for five years as a studio assistant, before setting up her own studio in West Norwood, London, in 2011.
Raised in Conwy, North Wales, Carys uses colours and textures in her ceramics that reflect the landscapes of her homeland; the red and green of the inland valleys, the greys and blues of the sea and the sky, the textures of sand, stone and granite.
Carys throws porcelain pots on the wheel. The clay has a personality of its own, sometimes cooperative, sometimes not, and will go its own way as it fires too. She likes to have smooth, shiny glazes inside, and rough, organic ones outside; like a shell of an oyster perhaps. Often she will rub the glazes down, to show the bubbles inside the glaze, like the wear from being washed up on a beach.
Recently Carys has been making site-specific work, sometimes in historic houses like Cotehele near Plymouth, sometimes to celebrate anniversaries, like Manchester's Crafts and Design Centre's 30th. This has led her to writing poetry on pots, using words as both marks and as a way to invoke feelings. Even a few words can be a reminder of the whole poem, bringing the world of literature into the world of objects. She likes the idea that, as you drink your morning coffee, the touch of the word under your fingers can transport you into a private memory.
Carys Davies work has been shown in exhibitions across the UK and in Europe. Her work is regularly on display in the Kellie Miller Arts gallery showrooms. -
In 2011 Carys won the Craft Prize at the Welsh National Eisteddfod. Her work is held as part of the permanent collection at the Portsmouth City Museum and Gallery.
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