Penny Hampson

Concepts/themes/ideas I am a public and community artist working mainly in the medium of architectural ceramics. The content of project work has generally covered geographic, historic, rural and urban heritage. I have worked on multi cultural themes with the group Connecting Cultures and on my “pocket park” project in Wolverhampton looking at patterns passed down through generations. Since working on my Keswick subway I am very interested in landscape, creating atmosphere and cloud formations with transparent and opaque glaze on porcelain. Processes and techniques My processes vary from hand made slab tiles and press moulded relief tiles to working with industrially produced tile and brick. Hand made tiles currently range from 4cm sq 30cm The tiles are fired to stoneware allowing for external use and glazed with stoneware and earthenware glazes. For swimming pool commissions, I have used contemporary technology in water jet cut mosaic designs with none slip industrial swimming pool tiles through Computer Assisted Manufacturing. My use of brick as a medium involves me building industrially extruded leather hard bricks built into walls and structures and then used as a surface for carving and drawing through layers of painted coloured clay slips and glazes before dismantling and firing then reglazing and firing. I also work with a factory to produce special bricks for commissioned works. Recently I have worked on imported unglazed coloured porcelain cladding tiles 500mm to 1000m. I glaze, print and sandblast the tiles in small areas. I am working towards working on 3000 x 1000 mm tiles for cladding systems. I like to create reflective and non reflective surfaces and work with colour, shadow and transluscency. I also design functional street furniture for fabrication in metal. Influences My day to day influences come through architecture and industrial archaeology. The artists I am currently influenced by are Francoise Schein (based in Paris) and Eduardo Nery (based in Portugal). Both artists work with industry in producing large-scale artworks in tile for public places. I am continually influenced by the ceramic wall produced by Joan Miro for the Unesco building in Paris. The painters that I refer to are Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinski. Career path I have considerable experience in producing large-scale works in tile and fabrication in metal, collaborating with architects and industry. I have taught in colleges and mentored BA and MA students. I am particularly interested in developing new formats and techniques in combining hands on skills with industrially produced tiles and cladding.