ABOUT ME

'What's on my workbench?'

As part of London Craft Week 21 I was interviewed in my studio as I shared 'what is on my workbench along with 5 other Design Nation members. Click here to see the recording, I am the third artist being interviewed that morning about 20 minutes into the film. Enjoy!

Mailing list

SARAH BURTON

SARAH BURTON - POTTERY

Contemporary decorative ceramics

Each piece of pottery I make brings together my love of working with clay and my experiences of travel and hiking. I love looking at the details around me: the patterns in nature; the veins on a leaf; the rhythm of seaweed moving with the waves in the sea; the pattern on the back of sea urchins. And the man made influences producing their own patterns: - furrows ploughed into a field ready for sewing seeds; the patchwork of fields divided by stonewalls or hedges; regular patterns of red clay bricks of an old barn clad with a corrugated roof with abstract splashes of colour from the lichen and moss clinging to the surfaces....

The vessels I make are a canvas for colourful glazes where I hand paint abstract designs in blues, turquoises and greys of the North Wales coast or the more earthy tones of burnt oranges, beiges, yellows, greens and whites from the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire arable countryside. I like to also use textures on the surfaces, especially the coastal inspired vessels: barnacles, crevices and layers of clay added to coiled or wheel thrown bowls and vases….. and the slab built vessels with furrows carved into the surface of the clay.....

I also enjoy making more sculptural work: fish, dragons, pears and apples. Each piece is individually hand made using a combination of pinching, slab building and throwing depending on the piece. I particularly like to see how my fish develop their own expression and personality.

I sell my work in galleries and exhibitions around the UK and you will find a selection of my work in the shop on this website which will take you to my Etsy shop. I also take commissions so please get in touch if you would like to discuss with me about a project you have in mind.

Until lockdown I regularly taught pottery classes and workshops to adults, but these classes are paused for the moment. If you are interested in attending pottery classes send me a message asking to be added to my mailing list and I will let you know when they will resume, probably sometime later in 2022.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Design-Nation 2012 - present Coordinator for Design Nation Nottingham members group

Craft Potters Association (associate member) 2019 - present

Nottingham Society of Artists 2007 - present

Check out my YouTube Channel and watch me making pots in my studio

Throwing a turquoise and blue vase on the potter's wheel by Sarah Burton Pottery 1.jpg

EXHIBITIONS 2011 - present

2021

- London Craft Week Multi Talented showcase by members of Design-Nation 4-10 October 2021

- NSofA members Spring exhibition Nottingham Society of Artists Gallery Friar Lane Nottingham

2019
- NSofA members Spring exhibition Nottingham Society of Artists Gallery Friar Lane Nottingham

- 'Connections' Karlsruhe/Nottingham collaboration GEDOK gallery Karlsruhe Germany

- ‘Pots and Pictures II’ - an exhibition of ceramics, wooden pictures and figurative paintings and drawings by Sarah Burton, Phil Harrison and Elaine ChipChase and Martin Locker, Nottingham Society of Artists Gallery Friar Lane Nottingham

- 'Connections' Nottingham/Karlsruhe collaboration Lakeside Gallery Shop Showcase University of Nottingham

- SOCK Winter Open Exhibition 2019 Sock Gallery

- Small Pictures Exhibition members, Nottingham Society of artists gallery Friar Lane Nottingham

2018
- ‘Pots and Pictures’ Exhibition Nottingham with figurative painter Phil Harrison and wooden pictures by Elaine ChipChase

- Marvellous Materials Exhibition, Nottingham. Design Factory members