Alice McIlroy
Alice McIlroy is a ceramic artist creating sculptures of the natural world, mainly but not exclusively birds, exploring underlying themes of freedom and escape.
In 2017 she graduated with an MA from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, which helped her to develop her own way of representing the natural world in clay. She often uses an unusual firing technique from the Baltic, obvara raku, where work is removed hot from the kiln and covered in a flour and yeast mixture which sears to the surface of the work in distinctive patterns, making every piece unique. She was a student demonstrator at the International Festival of Ceramics in Aberystwyth in 2017 and went on to exhibit as a newcomer at Art in Clay Hatfield in 2018.
She is concerned with the declining populations of British wildlife, particularly owls, and the loss of habitats as we ‘develop’ the countryside. She uses texture to help portray movement in her subjects, making sculptures of creatures that can be difficult to see in the wild - fleeting glimpses, but full of beauty, movement and life, frozen in time to be re-viewed whenever we need to recharge. She intends to broaden this study of movement to include other animals and flora over the coming year.
Her studio is in the newly reopened arts centre in Greenham, near Newbury in Berkshire, where she also teaches ceramics.
Contact details:
Email: alicemcilroy@icloud.com
Facebook: Alice McIlroy Ceramics
In 2017 she graduated with an MA from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, which helped her to develop her own way of representing the natural world in clay. She often uses an unusual firing technique from the Baltic, obvara raku, where work is removed hot from the kiln and covered in a flour and yeast mixture which sears to the surface of the work in distinctive patterns, making every piece unique. She was a student demonstrator at the International Festival of Ceramics in Aberystwyth in 2017 and went on to exhibit as a newcomer at Art in Clay Hatfield in 2018.
She is concerned with the declining populations of British wildlife, particularly owls, and the loss of habitats as we ‘develop’ the countryside. She uses texture to help portray movement in her subjects, making sculptures of creatures that can be difficult to see in the wild - fleeting glimpses, but full of beauty, movement and life, frozen in time to be re-viewed whenever we need to recharge. She intends to broaden this study of movement to include other animals and flora over the coming year.
Her studio is in the newly reopened arts centre in Greenham, near Newbury in Berkshire, where she also teaches ceramics.
Contact details:
Email: alicemcilroy@icloud.com
Facebook: Alice McIlroy Ceramics
