A master of glazes: Anna Barlow

Food is very much the subject of the work of Anna Barlow and how it translates into ceramic sculptures. Paul Bailey went along to the MadeinBritaly gallery in London to see her latest show.

The work is complex to make. Sections are moulded in porcelain which is high-fired, but might include other clays which are shrunk down onto the porcelain. Glazes are earthenware. Slip casting and press mouldings are also used. Often she will pipe the clay out onto the piece to simulate the texture of the whipped cream.

She said of the work, “The beauty of food left to melt and ooze holds a fascination for me. It is something that can be captured and frozen in time with clay and glaze. I like to work with the dry translucency of high fired porcelain that suits the biscuit texture of wafers and ice cream comes, while an earthenware glaze captures the quality of dripping ice cream”.

Sales of her work have been constant. This year she has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art Summer Show, the V&A, GICB Biennale, Collect for the Crafts Council and Ceramic Art London, and purchased for collections in New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and London.

The exhibition Double Trouble, with ceramicist Fosca Boggi, is at MadeinBritaly until 3rd September 2017.

 

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