We speak with Lucy Burley about her decorative yet functional ceramics, inspired by the still-life paintings of Giorgio Morandi.
I’ve been making pots for nearly 30 years, since graduating with a BA Honours in Ceramics from Camberwell College of Arts in 1996. I moved to Farnham in 2000 and work from my peaceful garden studio; all my work is thrown on the wheel using white earthenware clay. I make vessels which are both decorative and useful: vases, bottles, jugs, and bowls, which can be used every day or displayed in sculptural groups: simple shapes in vivid or muted colours, decorated with a smooth glaze which I invented during my degree course.
I take inspiration for my work from a wide range of influences: historical ceramics from different cultures; the colours in the landscape, flowers, fruit, birds’ eggs – everywhere I look I see a colour which I would like to represent on a vase so my range is quite extensive! I also look at paintings for inspiration, especially the still-life work of Giorgio Morandi: I love the simplicity and calm conveyed by his groups of vessels and I seek for my work to evoke the same harmony of form and colour. My favourite potter is Lucie Rie and I hope to, like her, be making pots well into my 90s.
It was a huge honour for me to be invited to make some vases and jugs for permanent display on the windowsills in the Watts Gallery Tea Shop (formerly the Showroom for Compton Pottery) when it was remodelled a few years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed responding to the colour scheme created by the designers who took inspiration from the traditional terracotta, ochre and teal shades used by Mary Watts’ pottery; I also made a collection of small posy vases based on the shape of a Compton vase, which to my great pride are used to display flowers from the Watts Gallery gardens on the table-tops in the Tea Shop.
The Watts Gallery Shop is a treasure trove of beautiful, unusual things: jewellery, clothing, housewares, ceramics and much more; I’ve always done the majority of my Christmas shopping there as I know the gifts will be well-received; to have my own work in the shop makes me incredibly proud and happy, and the fact that people might choose a piece of mine to give as a present (or to keep for themselves) is something I never fail to appreciate.
It means a great deal to independent makers like myself that there is an appetite to support local producers of art and craft, especially at Christmastime; mass-produced items can never give the same joy to the recipient as something created with skill and love by someone to whom making beautiful things is a lifetime endeavour.