Barbara Gittings

Barbara Gittings makes ceramics that are quiet, contemplative and sensuous. They draw you in to look and feel them. The smooth shining surfaces and intriguing integral patterns combine beautifully with unusual and satisfying forms.

Barbara was born and raised in South Africa. After studying fashion and design, she proceeded to pursue a career as a designer and pattern cutter in the fashion industry in London. However, an adult-education course in pottery in 1999 soon took over her life as she began to read everything she could find about clay, ceramics and ceramic artists.

‘Early in my clay journey I attended a weeklong course of smoke firing with Jane Perryman, which set me on my smoke-firing path. At a term-long intensive course at the City Lit I came across a tiny picture of an ancient Chinese Nerikomi bowl in one of the library books and I was hooked. I spent the next twelve years learning by trial and error, dipping in and out of various adult education courses.’

The Nerikomi techniques that Barbara uses involve adding oxides or stains to the grogged porcelain to colour it. Layers of coloured clay are then joined, sliced and rejoined to build up patterns through the clay. Barbara then slab-builds the pieces and, after sanding and biscuit firing them to 1046C, re-sands and further decorates them using various resists. They are then smoke-fired and polished.

‘The geometry of patterns in nature is a constant source of inspiration to me. Especially as random chaotic forces, growth, weathering, and erosion push the initial perfect symmetry towards imperfection. I am always exploring this balance between symmetry and asymmetry in my work, trying to capture the imperfect perfection. My work is quiet, contemplative, and tactile. The more one looks, the more one sees.’

Barbara is based in Brighton and exhibits her work in good galleries throughout England. She is a member of Contemporary Applied Arts and the Craft Potters Association.  At Sladers Yard we are delighted to show her work for the first time.