Artist Statement
A bit more about Dawn Isaac (deiceramics) written by friend and artist mentor Dawn Birch Jones
The artist and inspiration
Dawn Isaac has always had a deep affinity with nature, landscape and wildlife. This passion infused her childhood, her studies and career and her desire to create, from a very early age. With a BA in Landscape Architecture, MSc in Landscape Ecology and various qualifications in horticulture and fundraising, she has given equal commitment to the restoration of landscapes and habitats in her past professional career, as she does the study of materials and method, the value of recycling and exploration of nature’s designs in her creative pursuits. Even as a child she would draw and grow flowers with equal pleasure.
Dawn has a fascination for all things tactile. She has worked with most mediums - textiles, being a skilled embroiderer, glass too - but she always comes back to the clay. Ceramics provide an infinite number of possibilities - the connection with the earth - and then the element of risk and failure, never quite knowing, that suspense which is almost addictive, as she waits to see what the The Kiln Gods deliver. In contrast her sewing gives her that anchor, seeing and controlling her creations at every stage. The artist in her sometimes finds it difficult to decide when something is work in progress or finished. The timing involved can be very open and long or incredibly short, speedily finished and out of the door.
The honest craftswoman
Her work exudes an honesty, simplicity and practicality, with a great respect for her repurposed tools – knife and fork, cheap brush, grandma’s old rolling pin and tea strainer for making glaze and slip. Her studio, the erstwhile laundry room is busy, creatively chaotic with half-finished forms, things that need hooks, wire, rods, piles of something waiting to happen - a board for white clay, one for crank type stoneware, and one for messy black clay which gets everywhere. She recycles everything – the clay from pieces not fired, or not good enough to sell, packaging, fabrics to make patterns and imprints. She wants to share her work and knowledge to audiences, but very specifically to sell her work to buyers. She can then continue to be self-sufficient, as well as create space to make more work!
The work: simplicity versus detail
Dawn’s work encapsulates her love for nature’s complexities while at the same time respecting the simplicity of its truths and resilience. Whether her more intricate work or larger bolder work, it is recognisable by its naïve qualities. She has taken much inspiration from the work of Alfred Wallis particularly with her boat themed tiles and plaques.
Her more intricate design ideas originate from specific related moments in time. She developed early on a love of delftware and has fond memories of the blue delft flower designs on the mosaic like square chocolates she loved as a child. On one of her research museum visits, she recalls being struck by flower designs incised into bricks and the links in armour allowing movement. Combined with her love of intricate stitched designs, this led her to create her first nature printed small sewn-together clay tiles which capture a flower or seed head. The simple plants create the better masterpieces in her view. Her palette for this work has been predominantly blue, while at the same time introducing subtle tones of red, green, yellow and a dark slate grey. These interestingly mirror the palette of traditional Cornish ware, which she also loves. The hanging tiles are still one of her most popular staple creations.
In contrast to the intricacies of her smaller work, Dawn depicts the simplicity of nature with larger more naïve outdoor sculpture created from crank type clay, used for its robustness, stone-like quality and interesting toasted appearance. These larger pieces, animals, faces, pots sometimes quirky or abstract or incorporating movement are highly simplified, their shape and natural colour contrasting against plants.
Moving forward
The future is exciting as Dawn focuses on her artwork and draws on significant knowledge. She has attended numerous master workshops using a huge breadth of techniques and materials. She continues to develop her trademark incised white line ceramics inspired by a memorable week spent with John Maltby. Her work with the Nature Printing Society in USA has led to wood and seaweed nature printing on clay.
Wendy Kershaw week long ceramics decorative course, Sarah Pike's making textured rollers, Anna Lambert's mark making course and range of other plant, embroidery, ceramic, art and printing courses add to her techniques.
She continues to explore and push the boundaries of her learning including exploring porcelain's translucency and it's ability to hold fine detail. She also continues to experiment with new handmade bonsai pot designs and experiments in glazing.
Dawn Isaac has always had a deep affinity with nature, landscape and wildlife. This passion infused her childhood, her studies and career and her desire to create, from a very early age. With a BA in Landscape Architecture, MSc in Landscape Ecology and various qualifications in horticulture and fundraising, she has given equal commitment to the restoration of landscapes and habitats in her past professional career, as she does the study of materials and method, the value of recycling and exploration of nature’s designs in her creative pursuits. Even as a child she would draw and grow flowers with equal pleasure.
Dawn has a fascination for all things tactile. She has worked with most mediums - textiles, being a skilled embroiderer, glass too - but she always comes back to the clay. Ceramics provide an infinite number of possibilities - the connection with the earth - and then the element of risk and failure, never quite knowing, that suspense which is almost addictive, as she waits to see what the The Kiln Gods deliver. In contrast her sewing gives her that anchor, seeing and controlling her creations at every stage. The artist in her sometimes finds it difficult to decide when something is work in progress or finished. The timing involved can be very open and long or incredibly short, speedily finished and out of the door.
The honest craftswoman
Her work exudes an honesty, simplicity and practicality, with a great respect for her repurposed tools – knife and fork, cheap brush, grandma’s old rolling pin and tea strainer for making glaze and slip. Her studio, the erstwhile laundry room is busy, creatively chaotic with half-finished forms, things that need hooks, wire, rods, piles of something waiting to happen - a board for white clay, one for crank type stoneware, and one for messy black clay which gets everywhere. She recycles everything – the clay from pieces not fired, or not good enough to sell, packaging, fabrics to make patterns and imprints. She wants to share her work and knowledge to audiences, but very specifically to sell her work to buyers. She can then continue to be self-sufficient, as well as create space to make more work!
The work: simplicity versus detail
Dawn’s work encapsulates her love for nature’s complexities while at the same time respecting the simplicity of its truths and resilience. Whether her more intricate work or larger bolder work, it is recognisable by its naïve qualities. She has taken much inspiration from the work of Alfred Wallis particularly with her boat themed tiles and plaques.
Her more intricate design ideas originate from specific related moments in time. She developed early on a love of delftware and has fond memories of the blue delft flower designs on the mosaic like square chocolates she loved as a child. On one of her research museum visits, she recalls being struck by flower designs incised into bricks and the links in armour allowing movement. Combined with her love of intricate stitched designs, this led her to create her first nature printed small sewn-together clay tiles which capture a flower or seed head. The simple plants create the better masterpieces in her view. Her palette for this work has been predominantly blue, while at the same time introducing subtle tones of red, green, yellow and a dark slate grey. These interestingly mirror the palette of traditional Cornish ware, which she also loves. The hanging tiles are still one of her most popular staple creations.
In contrast to the intricacies of her smaller work, Dawn depicts the simplicity of nature with larger more naïve outdoor sculpture created from crank type clay, used for its robustness, stone-like quality and interesting toasted appearance. These larger pieces, animals, faces, pots sometimes quirky or abstract or incorporating movement are highly simplified, their shape and natural colour contrasting against plants.
Moving forward
The future is exciting as Dawn focuses on her artwork and draws on significant knowledge. She has attended numerous master workshops using a huge breadth of techniques and materials. She continues to develop her trademark incised white line ceramics inspired by a memorable week spent with John Maltby. Her work with the Nature Printing Society in USA has led to wood and seaweed nature printing on clay.
Wendy Kershaw week long ceramics decorative course, Sarah Pike's making textured rollers, Anna Lambert's mark making course and range of other plant, embroidery, ceramic, art and printing courses add to her techniques.
She continues to explore and push the boundaries of her learning including exploring porcelain's translucency and it's ability to hold fine detail. She also continues to experiment with new handmade bonsai pot designs and experiments in glazing.
