Stuart Carey

The work consists of sets of thrown stoneware bowls, beakers, jugs, plates, cups and mugs of varying scale. The pieces are tableware although one of the main aims of the work is that each piece can be appreciated as an art object as much as a functional ware.
 
The basis of the work is the intimacy of functional objects. During making the pieces are lifted from the wheel whilst  wet and this action and immediacy leaves a movement in the surface, capturing a moment which can be seen and felt by the user. What I want to highlight is how we build similar relationships with functional ceramics as we do with one and other and attempt to produce pieces that demonstrate this interaction and make the user feel something on a physical and emotional level.

Everyone has their favorite cup or bowl to which they have an attachment whether it be for sentimental or aesthetic reasons. We often find ourselves giving objects human characteristics and imagining personalities based on our relationships with them and the emotional links they have to their owners or ourselves. I gently nudge at this point by making pieces where no two are identical, giving each one a unique aesthetic and personality whilst still sitting comfortably within sets or families as I like to think of them, with similarities in style and scale and a complimentary subtle palette of colour and tone. 

Education
2009–11  MA Ceramics & Glass. Royal College of Art
2006–09  BA (First-Class Honours) Ceramic Design. Glasgow School of Art

Awards
2011  First Prize. Guest of the Danes, Show Stand, Cultural Connections.
2011  First Prize. Charlotte Fraser Award for Ceramics.
2011  First Prize. The Worshipful Company of Grocers Ceramics Scholarship.
 
Exhibitions
2011  There’s Beauty Everywhere – The Tramshed, Rivington Street, London 
Hand and I – Studio fiftyfour, Rivington Street, London
Designers Guild – Work in stock. Kings Road, London
Art in Clay Hatfield House. Hatfield, Greater London
Graduates & Antiquarians, Kensington Church St, London
Royal College of Art – Degree Show, RCA, Kensington Gore, London
2010  An Exhibition of Ceramics. 37 Grey Street. Newcastle Upon Tyne
2009  Degree Show. Glasgow School of Art. Glasgow
2006–11 5 x Public Art Commissions. Alloa. Clackmannanshire