Sophie MacCarthy: Accidental Compositions

In a career spanning nearly 50 years, ceramicist, Sophie MacCarthy has developed a unique and distinctive personal style. Through her subtle and bold use of coloured slips, painterly brushwork, stencils and wax-resist, she evokes the colours, forms and movements of the passing seasons. Often focusing on the ground, she finds beauty in the accidental compositions created by wind-blown leaves, stalks and detritus sometimes gathered around a storm drain or scattered over concrete and tarmac, juxtaposing the vibrant colours of the natural world with the gritty textures of the urban environment.

Using a technique she has developed over the last 35 years, alongside stencils, wax resist, sgraffito and sponging, Sophie delicately creates distinctive imagery on the surface of her wheel thrown vessels. By painting with coloured slips on to dry clay surfaces the liquid is quickly absorbed, which helps to create tonal depth with varying degrees of thickness.

‘She has a poetic insight into the natural world’ David Whiting