You can find Lily elbow deep in clay creating high fired stoneware ceramics from her studio and showroom, ‘Further Doings Studio’ in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Lily has been a practicing artist since studying visual arts in 2000. She has worked with photography, textiles, cement and sculpture before discovering the joy in getting her hands dirty and working with clay.

The influence of the wild surf beach and native bush surroundings of Lilys home is an obvious inspiration in Lily’s ceramics. These are made by hand in a humble, organic style, often leaving the artist’s hand and making process evident in the finished pieces. From her everyday tableware to her one of a kind ceramic art pieces the intention of her practice is to create pieces that are well considered, constructed and cherished in the home.

Lily also works with discerning businesses and individuals to create bespoke giftware and custom or branded ceramics and tableware, she supplies many local restaurants and cafes with her beautiful organic tableware, art objects and pays homage to her love of good coffee with ceramic takeaway cups and tumblers.

Lily creates under the identity, Lil Ceramics. You can follow her on Instagram: @lil.ceramics

And find her ceramics for sale online at www.lilceramics.co.nz

The initial concept of this body of work was in response to the colours and patterns I observed when I’m engaged with my environment. In forcing myself to slow down and take notice of the little details that can often be missed, each day I would search out new interesting visual treasures.

Patterns in the sand and water, ripples or peaks or evidence of living creatures retreating back to the ocean or underground, lithe leathery slick clumps of seaweed, shimmery translucent bubbles of bluebottles, shards and debris of shells and rocks, flotsam and jetsam in abundance, glossy metallic reflections and matte dusty dry windswept vistas, looking deeper into bubbly puddles and craggy barnacled rockpools, all framed by gritty silty ochre cliffs.

I have combined stained and grogged clay bodies with found inclusions from the beach itself to build nerikomi blocks which were then sliced, torn and flattened. These nerikomi slivers were added with slips and inlaid into clay slabs translating what I see into clay to make a collage of my observations within each unique composition.

I enjoy the practical challenges of construction, intuitively manipulating, cutting and building these collaged slabs into functional objects whose forms hint at the shapes of their greater landscapes.

My hope is that each piece bought into the home will serve as a window or spark a memory of the viewers own meanderings along the  beach at low tide.