Nicola Richards Ceramics

Biography

Nicola Richards is a London born ceramic artist, currently based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Integral to her ceramic work are the other strands of her professional practice as a printmaker and art teacher. For Nicola, the act of mark making whilst printmaking and sketching surface pattern designs are of equal importance to the form of her pots. 

She grew up in the 1960s in a household surrounded by geometric fifties wallpaper, colourful fabrics, Midwinter tea sets with scratchy Jessie Taite designs and ever-changing pictures on the walls borrowed from the local library. The design and colour influences from this era are evident in Nicola’s surface pattern designs on her ceramic pieces.

Nicola’s pots are made by coiling or slabbing and then beating with wooden spatulas to obtain simple bowls and pots shaped vessels. Finished forms are painted with a fine coloured slip and carefully burnished several times to create a satin surface suitable for decoration. Patterns are initially drawn in sketchbooks and trial pieces are made before the final design is applied to the pots. The designs are made by using a slip trailer and painting with coloured slips onto pieces of paper which are then transferred onto the pot surface by dampening and rubbing with the back of a spoon.

Nicola gained her B.A. Hons 3D Design (Ceramics) degree at Wolverhampton University in 1982 and since graduating has exhibited as an individual and collaboratively with other artists. Invitations have come from the Crafts Potters Association, Arts Council England, Craftspace ‘Made in the Middle’, Bilston Craft Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Herbert Art Gallery and Leamington Art Gallery and Museum. Nicola is a member of the Crafts Potters Association and the Leamington Studio Artists.

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The artist at work