Elaine Coles

"I have been a potter now for over 40 years and my work has gone through various stages but it has always had a very ‘Elaine Coles’ look about it.  My early inspiration came from French Provincial Pottery, I loved the earthy shapes and lead glazes.  It also comes from my time spent in Africa.  Most of my work is thrown but I have gone through several changes in the glazing and surface decoration. Whilst at Goldsmiths  my love of colour led me to experiment with glazes and my tutor, Ray Silverman, encouraged me to mix my own glazes, these I fired to a very high temperature and the glazes ran and melted into each other creating one off abstract designs.  I then spent several years smoke firing and now I have gone full circle and back to my love of colour.  I use my own originally designed ceramic transfer with coloured glazes and gold and coloured lustres."