Ceramicist Paula Briggs sees her work as crossing the divide, real or imagined, between art, craft and design; her practice is embedded in material exploration and communication. Through making she explores human emotion and experience, and loves the challenge of creating work that communicates or generates an emotional response. That is her driving force. That it is possible to embody a clay vessel with memory and emotion constantly intrigues Paula, and observing reactions and relationships between vessels and viewers fascinates her.
Working in series, Paula hand builds sculptural vessels in both porcelain and stoneware. Often developed from initial exhibition pieces, the principle of working with a single form allows for an exploration of response to scale, colour and surface, while maintaining a sense of belonging across the work. Ensuring each individual piece is part of the whole, yet has an identity all of its own, is a vital element of Paula’s work.
Paula Briggs is one of Design-Nation’s Fellows.
