A Painterly Performance
A Painterly Performance
Ceramics on the wall. Always a challenge - but what a space. The abstract shapes twist and turn, flinging upwards with exuberant energy. I definitely want to do more work on this exciting sort of installation. ‘A Painterly Performance.’ Like great daubs of paint.
MA Ceramics at UCA Farnham
Painterly gesture on the ceramic surface, a detail.
I have spent an intense and fascinating year at UCA Farnham, considering the potential for gestural marks on the ceramic surface to communicate energy. I have been particularly inspired by the bold and playful ceramics of American artist, Betty Woodman. I loved seeing her wall pieces at the Strange Clay exhibition at The Hayward Gallery in 2022. They transmitted such exuberance that I wanted to pin down the means to do that..
My Major Project included three Folio pieces where I have been using clay slip to record painterly gesture, a technique which brings an exciting, immediate and layered quality to the ceramic surface.
I invite the viewer to ‘read’ these large, simple, open shapes, where glaze and clay pigments capture the energy of ‘in-the-moment’ painting.
Folio XVI - 70 x 44 cm
Heathland Project Summer 2024
‘Woven Landscape’ - undulating ceramic strips ready to be mounted within a frame for the RSPB Heathland Arts’ Trail organised by Surrey Arts.
The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, joins with Surrey Arts to encourage students to submit proposals for an Arts Trail at RSPB Heathland, Tilford, near Farnham. This attractive area is being managed to increase biodiversity, removing some of the heavily forested Scots’ Pine areas to let other varieties, including the heather and silver birch, flourish. This has introduced many new species of birds including woodlark, linnets, stonechats etc.
My contribution is called ‘Woven Landscape’ as it evokes the subtle colour palette of the Heath, whilst noting the strong sense of the vertical pine trees and the blue horizon.
Cotswolds
Caroline Egleston Landscape Tile Frieze LH
A dynamic tile frieze with playful shapes in the kitchen of a beautifully re-designed barn space.
Important to work with the surroundings - large windows looked over extensive countryside. Also to bring visual interest into the large expanse of high white ceiling. Lovely courtyard planting outside and an excitingly creative interior, every intricate detail carefully considered and selected.
“Working with you has been an amazing experience and the results bring us so much joy.”
Tessellation
Gesture tessellation: a dynamic tile scape. Rhythmic shapes in a rhythmic dance pattern.
I’m interested in creating movement across the wall surface. The tile shapes here are made individually and then mounted onto painted rectangles of painted plywood and then fixed to the wall.
Apartment in Rome
A lovely commission for an apartment in Rome, recently refurbished by its new owners. We started with colour possibilities so the whole scheme flows and then finessed the design to enhance the space.
The tile frieze was handmade and hand painted, measuring 120 x 35 cm.
Tudor Gothic Cottage
Caroline Egleston - Tudor Gothic Cottage kitchen tiles
The commissioning process starts with a sketch of ideas, leading to a mock up of the tiles on my workshop floor and re-arranging…right to the last moment. I like to produce some sort of Photoshop mock-up so the client can see the balance of the tiles in the space. Finally, each tile is numbered and carefully packed, along with a laminated sheet with full details for the tiler.
“Thank you so so much, Caroline. Colours and design both exceeding imagination and expectation....”
Hampshire Cottage
Caroline Egleston ceramic art hampshire cottage kitchen tiles
An opportunity to lift a darkish area in a lovely old Hampshire cottage. I felt it was a chance to bring in some bold, warmer colours.
“The tiles are AMAZING. I spent most of the afternoon sitting and staring at them! They are truly beautiful.”
Malvern Home
Caroline Egleston - kitchen tiles project malverns interior
This was a lockdown project, a time when the family were at home together and the kitchen is the hub … all the family had a say in choosing the tiles.
“They are beautiful, every time I come down they surprise me and they have animated, transformed the kitchen at a time when we are almost always in it!
Soho House Tables
Caroline Egleston - Project - Coffee Table for Soho House
The long plain tiles have a cobalt and nickel glaze on textured clay. There are three colourways of central ‘circle-in-square’ tiles.
Here are the tables before and after grouting.
Somerset Potting Shed
Caroline Egleston - Converted Potting Shed in Somerset - Fireplace Tiles
Converted from an old potting shed, the open-plan living space makes such a light and spacious home.
The two tiled areas are at opposite ends of the living space, so needed to relate but be distinct in feel. I loved working with this client who enjoys and collects ceramics, enthralled by glazes and the variation which makes for something individual.
Cabin in the Woods
Four metre tile frieze in a Cornish cabin.
Four metre tile frieze spanning this cosy Cornish cabin
