Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Back to Basics program / SEPTEMBER 2022
Bee Hayes
UK
asthecrowsfly.co.uk
About
Having qualified in both social anthropology and fashion
design, I am currently a ceramicist working with porcelain, a
material I find really satisfying and versatile. In my ceramics
practice I throw or slip cast, and then polish, glaze or
illustrate my vessels. I find I am constantly discovering new
ideas and ways of working, and I am dedicated to design and
functionality: I feel strongly that the things in our lives, that
we use, should enhance the everyday and I want my work to
perform that as a function as much as being usable vessels.
I am also an illustrator and, although I mainly use that as a
tool to push forward my ceramics and design work, I have
recently been studying printmaking. A year of exploring
different techniques and ways to make marks and create
layered and unique new artworks with no end point of
functionality has made me want to explore this further. I feel
quite liberated from my everyday ceramics practice in that
my prints have no ‘reason’. This is a new way of working and
thinking for me, but the spontaneity of ideas comes from the
same place. The dialogue between colour, the natural world
and distinctive elements of design heritage both from the
west and the global south is what gives me my impetus to
keep on interrogating and creating.
Screenprint Metaphors
During my time at Arteles I explored the medium of
screenprint for creating abstract symbolist compositions.
The research was designed to round off a year of exploring
print as a new medium to expand my practice in ceramics
and bring textiles/visual art into my remit. A year of learning,
ending with a month of completely open exploration and
spontaneity. I loved living a few steps away from a beautiful
light studio space, always ready for me to work and take
forward ideas that struck me whilst walking or running or
sitting with the natural landscape surrounding us. Such a
valuable time; the ideas and colour work here will inform a
new direction in my practice.