Ian Pipe Ceramics

After a brief encounter with clay and plaster at art school, it was another 15 years before an evening class gave me the opportunity to dig into these materials again and find out what might be possible.

Ever since, I’ve been making ceramics and learning how to express what I think or feel using it.

I start with a curiosity, maybe something I have seen in the countryside or heard on the radio, maybe a shape, a colour or an emotion. Designs emerge inspired by this as they take on physical form. These are worked up into a prototype and with revisions and some luck, eventually, a piece takes shape clothed in my view of the subject.

These themes change frequently and often have a humorous element. I build by hand with a few simple tools and decorate with mixtures of off-the-shelf glazes. Firing is done in an electric kiln with my fingers crossed… till I’m happy