Coned spirals’ Black onyx porcelain and white porcelain spiral with sloppy glaze and slips and oxide washes by Stephanie Kerek
The Wirksworth Arts Festival launched its popular Artist in Residence programme in 2019. Each year artists from all over the country apply for a 3-month period of dedicated studio time in an 18th-century cottage located on the outskirts of Wirksworth, Derbyshire.
We are thrilled to announce that this year’s successful artist is Stephanie Kerek, an award-winning ceramicist based in Lancashire. Stephanie says of her work:
“My work is a personal response to landscape environments. It captures the very essence of landscape found in the British Isles in abstract sculptural form and is born from direct immersive experience and time spent journeying and adventuring. The project incorporates the findings from a broad exploration of process methods which in many ways, mimic the forces and manipulations found in nature. The aesthetic captures the energy of the process and finds ways to encourage elements of chance and create stress to capture an organic look.
There is a relationship between the material, the process and the terrain. Clay enables a physical, tactile exploration of one’s inner landscape as well as the physical landscape, therefore just like the vessel there is both an inner and outer world to explore. This is particularly relevant at a time when it feels as though humans are disconnected from nature. Creating this work helps to strengthen a bond with the natural environment and this essence can be observed by the viewer, to inspire them to broaden their own relationship with nature.”
Stephanie’s work from her residency will be proudly exhibited as part of next year’s Arts Festival.
The Artist in Residence programme is supported by The Ampersand Foundation. It gives artists the time and space to rethink their work and develop new directions, taking inspiration from life and the surroundings in and around Wirksworth. This year’s Arts Festival programme starts on the 6th September and is celebrating its 30th anniversary of exhibiting original artwork from many local and visiting artists.