Last week we told you about our newest Professional members. Alongside those super people we have another cohort, new members who are emerging talents, in the shape of our latest Associate and Graduate joiners. (Find out more about these membership categories here.)
Our new Associates bring a wealth of skills and inspirations. Leeds-based Monica Escobar trades as Ita Lillywhite; she makes flamboyant floral decorations in heavy crepe paper, skilfully transformed into natural forms with a twist, informed by her Latin American upbringing. In Derbyshire we find Kaleido Marbling Art run by Paola De Giovanni who says of marbling, “I enjoy the limited control I have on the flowing paints, and like in a dance I try to establish a relationship with the medium, without over working it.”
Ceramicist Flora Fabric trades as OOAK Creation in London, OOAK standing for “One Of A Kind”. Flora prefers simple shapes with an organic twist, natural colours, muted tones and tactile textures, in a style she characterises as “rustic clays with a strong personality”.
Samantha English is a metal artist living in Hampshire, exploring and capturing in her vessels fragility, decay and “the narrative of landscape, giving the viewer a place to hold their own memories”. Our fifth new Associate is enamelling artist Sinead O’Connor who trades as Cruan, taking inspiration for the flowing decoration on her copper vessels from her local landscape in Cornwall.
Our latest Graduates show strength in ceramic practice, testament to the enduring appeal and astonishing diversity of this ancient material. Anna Littler trades as Anna Lucy Ceramics and unsurprisingly she is based in Staffordshire, where she gained her MA in 2023. Anna is a former nurse, and brings fascination with the human body, its defences and disorders, to her developing practice.
Julie Zeldin has a diploma in ceramics from City Lit London where she graduated with distinction in 2023. She is currently exploring plate forms and says,”Some pieces explore complexity, others restraint. It is a balance of activity and stillness which interests me. It feels like drawing in space.” Ying Zheng graduated with a masters in ceramic and glass from the RCA in 2023; her colourful assemblages explore the delicate balance between stability and fluidity in ceramics, witjh underlying themes around the essence and internal relationship of projection, superego, and conflict in romantic relationships.
Our round-up finishes with the very talented Da Ye Kim who studied a variety of traditional and contemporary craft forms in her native South Korea, and then completed her masters in jewellery and metal at the RCA in 2023. She has already exhibited twice at the prestigious Schmuck in Germany, showing metal creations that blend sculptural form and functional design, inviting viewers into her mystical narratives.