Q & A with Ania Perkowska
Location: East London
Discipline: Ceramics
Please describe your creative process/practice:
Making: All work is wheel thrown using a variety of black clays to achieve a desired surface. Decorating: Pots are then polished with pebbles and light bulbs for smooth finish. Or scraped with metal kidneys and then polished for additional textures and discret patterns.
I use slips for additional surface and colour decoration in number of different ways:
Sgraffito – simple organic lines to create a design
Monoprinting – building up layers of texture and colours, Brush strokes – giving a strong, dynamic feel with added texture.
Your Influences and motivations:
Growing up as a child in communist Poland, my life was underpinned by stark grey concrete structures. This raw, substantial architecture had been woven into the history and fabric of my upbringing.
Perhaps for this reason, whilst many other makers are inspired by nature, I find myself strongly drawn to man made structures. Brutalist aesthetic, exposed materials, angular geometric shapes and limited colour palette.
My work echoes the industrial, the regular, the designed. But also shows evidence of passing of time: worn out, peeling off, abandoned and weathered.
The former function and glory, now becoming just a captivating, abstract detail.
What makes your work UNIQUE?
I have been working with a number of black clays for over a decade, mixing, burnishing, scraping, polishing. My fascination and goal is to achieve a variety of subtle patterns and tactile textures with this rough, difficult material.
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- Colour/Trends – Does your work have a particular colour palate, or link to a particular styling?
- I’m drawn to minimalist, monochrome palate and strong contrast, both in colour and texture. I often use a splash of strong colour and simple geometric patterns such as lines, circles.
Ania Perkowska, Brown Stripy Vases, Ceramics, Height 18cm, £150.
Ania Perkowska, Dark Graffitti Vessels with Moving Handles, Ceramics, Height 14cm, £120.
