The Ceramic Sculptor, Ian Gregory
An artist whose work has been a major source of inspiration for me, is the sculptor, Ian Gregory. Ian is an extremely talented ceramic artist who has produced both functional and sculptural pieces over many years. He has mastered a wide variety of skills in the field of ceramics, including wheel-thrown pottery, salt-glazed stoneware, life-size sculpture and mixed media installations. He is also an acknowledged expert in the design and building of kilns and often demonstrates his innovative, portable kilns at workshops and exhibitions.
One of the things I like about Ian, is that he recommends learning through experimentation rather than hearsay, and he is happy to dispel some of the myths concerning what is and isn’t possible in ceramics. I remember being astonished at a demonstration when Ian told us that he’s able fire his ”little rocket” kiln to 1300 degrees centigrade in less than 15 minutes (many kilns take at least 14 hours to reach the same temperature)!
”Sitting Nicely” by Ian Gregory
(Image courtesy of oakwood ceramics)
Most of Ian’s recent sculptures have been created using paperclay, and he was among the first ceramic artists to discover the unique properties of this material. If you’d like to learn more about paperclay and Ian’s working methods, an in-depth article can be found here, on his website. Below are three photos I took in 2006, while he demonstrated his techniques at the “where I fell in love” gallery in Shipston-on-Stour:
Ian uses only a few simple tools to create his highly expressive artworks. His style is immediate, instinctive and fluid and his pieces often have an impressionistic quality. He has become well known for his sculptures of animals, especially dogs, and he is very adept at capturing both their charming and more menacing idiosyncrasies. Ian has stated that he doesn’t aim for perfect, anatomical precision in his work, preferring instead to try to reveal the essence of things. He creates timeless sculptures which are heavy with latent meaning, objects which may take on a life and reality of their own for each viewer.
