Jill Fanshawe Kato

Stem vases

Hand thrown, reduction fired stoneware vases with seedling designs to celebrate Springtime during lockdown.

THE PANDEMIC EFFECT

Normally there are not enough hours in the day for me to be in my studio and household tasks can be a distraction.

Lockdown started for me in Devon on March 19. I had been preparing for two solo gallery exhibitions in Cumbria and Bath, but both were cancelled or postponed.

Suddenly I had no purpose to be in my studio. Clay is hard work with many processes, so I usually work well ahead of exhibitions.

Having originally trained as a painter at art school, I picked up my sketchbook and paints instead, I share my ceramics with the world but draw for my own pleasure and always have a sketchbook to hand.

Against a background of terrible news, this Spring has been exceptionally lovely, from the first bluebells, the lime green tree buds bursting, swallows arriving from Africa, a variety of rare birds nesting in my garden, jewelled damselflies flitting over the stream, deer in the forest… I painted or photographed many aspects of nature.

I also painted 60 tiles with images from nature for my kitchen renovation, completed in July.

Late July brought many requests for my ceramics again as life slightly returned to what it was, so I headed back into my studio inspired by the power of the natural world.