Helen Johannessen

I have been working in ceramics since my very first pottery class aged 16 and I am still finding new things to explore in clay after working with it for over three decades. My Scandinavian heritage plays a large part in my work and aesthetic although I have mainly lived in the UK.

I enjoy industrial pottery methods of slip casting and decoration, combining ideas from other disciplines such as screen printing and bring it into the ceramic studio - colouring clay and printing with that. There are always surprises when you take a risk!

My favourite type of work to make is usually technically challenging and also doesn't always look like clay. As a material, it can be so many things - functional or decorative, glossy, colourful, earthy, smooth, rough, delicate, chunky.

Teaching creative subjects and methods has always complimented my studio practice and ceramics is a discipline which is usually very sharing and friendly, I like that.