Sotis Philippides at the Stour Gallery, Shipston-on-Stour.
My favourite piece at the June exhibition of the Stour Gallery was by Sotis Philippides, so I was very pleased to see that a whole room had been dedicated to his work in this current one. I love the simplicity of his vessels, and was amazed at how light they are.
I found this statement on his website:
'Philippides uses a clay from the hone of pottery - Stoke-on-Trent - that is very rough and textured, with fine, stone-like sand particles, but highly malleable. This allows him to achieve his characteristic fine yet textured finish. He fires his pots at 1,000oC and he can alter the surface appearance by scraping away the fine stones to reveal small indentations. Customers are always surprised by how light his ceramics are, but this is his intention. 'While I try to make my work as light and fine as possible', he says, 'I want it to appear heavy, as if it were made from another material, such as wood or stone'... Inspiration comes from many sources, but they are always organic. Current favourites include tree bark and black volcanic rock.
Although he has experimented with gloss finishes, he prefers matt glazes and natural oxides, such as copper and iron. His choice of colours reflects the objects of his inspiration: natural deep earthy-brown tones contrast with soft sky-blues, while charcoal-greys are teamed with chalky whites'.
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