A background in languages informs Nicola Martin’s striving to communicate through ceramic art. Her long-held interests in ecology and conservation, and the message she conveys through all her work are a commentary on her love of nature and the environment.
Nicola’s stoneware vessels have become a canvas onto which she ‘paints’ based on what she sees in the world. Recent disturbing images of global warming have deeply affected Nicola and these images along with aerial photographs have inspired her to create a series of ‘Earth Bowls’.
With these pieces, she uses a pouring technique, applying glazes in a free and intuitive way, creating patterns and effects that resemble the Earth’s surface seen from above. Nicola enjoys the tension between the attempted control of the alchemy of different glazes and unpredictability of the outcome. The finished pieces express her awareness of the fragility of our Earth and form a visual record of its beauty.
