I create one-off sculptural pieces using the traditional handbuilding methods of slab, pinch, and coil. I believe and encourage myself to not look too much at how others work when relating to my practice; but rather look within, to instinct and gut.
 
-- Kate Semple, 2023
 
EASTWOOD FINE ART: Your ceramics take everyday vessels and transform them into beautiful objects for contemplation, could you tell us about your practice and how you first began working in ceramic? 
 
KATE SEMPLE: I grew up in South Yorkshire. Mum was an antique dealer specialising in vintage ceramics. Beautifully formed vessels adorned with painterly brushstrokes filled our family home, from Beswick to Clarice Cliff; each piece had a price sticker underneath and they would come and go. Dad was an engineer who in his spare time would tinker in his handbuilt workshop, turning felled wood into beautiful vessels for his loved ones.
 
I took Ceramics O level whilst at Doncaster Art College studying Fine Art Foundation 1987. This is where my curiosity in ceramics began. Throughout my life, I have regularly taken part in ceramics evening classes, though it wasn’t until the start of the pandemic that I began handbuilding with clay at home. I lost my father at the start of this time and cared for Mum who died a year later. During this period clay became a focus and distraction, a place to channel positivity whilst navigating such difficult times. I feel this is why my work bears soulful and emotive registers. I'm not looking for perfection – my work is responsive and energetic. I work standing, which I think helps to imbue my pieces with energy and individualism. To encourage a sense of uniformity I will often work on more than one piece at a time, as with these candlesticks. This also helps to consolidate their forms whilst I'm building. 
 
My working day often starts at 6am, I like to be productive as the sunrises. A large kiln filling vessel will often start life then, and I'll finish the build around sunset; working outside in the warmer months. Day two would typically involve shaping up the vessel and so on, tending to the form daily until it's ready to be fired. I like to combine various techniques for the greatest effect, for example, the candlesticks simultaneously implement slab, coil, and pinch to create the form. If I have just built a large coil pot, I will instinctively want to shift to a collection of small slab-built vessels. I love this variety and contrast, and it inevitably leads to a varied and rich working week. 
 
EFA: The vases' patterns have an intuitive quality but also recall classical motifs, what are your sources of inspiration and how are these interpreted through your work?
 
KS: I love to visit galleries, and exhibitions, and to travel. All these sources yield inspiration whether it’s the Ashmolean Museum or a piece of studio pottery I find in a charity shop. Inspiration can be found in every detail from their glazing to their markings. 
 
I create one-off sculptural pieces using the traditional handbuilding methods of slab, pinch, and coil. I believe and encourage myself to not look too much at how others work when relating to my practice; but rather look within, to instinct and gut. This conjures a far more personal and unique outcome which is the key. 
 
EFA: You also sculpt with paper, how does this aid your process and do you employ any other media as an aid to your process?
 
KS: My background is in illustration and graphic design, always with an interest in 3D; paper projects or a pottery night class usually adding to my week. I work from my home studio in York and began handbuilding vessels at home during the pandemic, and in spring 2022 took part in my first York Open Studios where I sold my body of work from this time. Since then I have continued to build vessels with paper and clay and consequently bought a kiln. 
 
Recently, I ran a virtual recycled paper vessel workshop for Toast, sharing my process and love of creating something beautiful from the discarded. I’m interested in the relationship between the two materials whilst responding to the contrast.
 
EFA: For SPOTLIGHT, you are showing two new ceramics – Marcel and Fabian, both 2023 – could you tell us more about each of these works? 
 
KS: Marcel and Fabian are two handbuilt candlesticks that can also be used as stem vases. They do not hold water, the hole at the top goes all the way down; great for dried stems as shown. I have developed this design and this is the third time I have built this series. They adopt all three techniques of pinch, coil, and slab making for an intensely rich process.