2022 Emerging Artist: Verity Howard Verity Howard

Verity Howard, Hereford, United Kingdom

Ceramics Monthly: What roles do color and abstraction play in your work? 

Verify Howard: My current body of work Sacrificial Stone Series 2 centers on the research of Alfred Watkins, an English naturalist. The title Sacrificial Stone came from one of Watkins’ maps. I was intrigued by this mysterious place name, which to me evokes a sense of the surreal, stone like, obscured and encaged. I have since been using clay to explore the images and feelings that I associate with these words.

Abstraction is central to my practice. The pieces I make result from abstracting marks, textures, surfaces, and forms that, together, create a new interpretation of things I see and experience. Working this way allows the viewer the chance to see, experience, and feel things in the same way that I do.

While referencing the form of stones, my works are not representational; instead they combine many forms I have seen. I create these works by cutting up clay slabs and collaging them together. Working intuitively, I allow each slab to inform the next.

The surfaces of my work are equally as abstracted and are again a culmination of many things I have encountered. I employ a pared-back approach to applying color and use it to evoke a sense of atmosphere and place. I monoprint colored slips onto slabs of clay; rocks, as well as lichen and mosses growing on them inspire the color and placement of this surface decoration. I draw on the clay and roll in textures that reference the surfaces of stones. I monoprint man-made meshes to evoke a feeling of the works being obscured and encaged. I am interested in the contrast between the natural form and man-made surface decoration. This adds to the mysterious atmosphere surrounding the works and results in them having a sense of belonging but also being placeless.

CM: What excites you about the field of ceramics?

VH: I personally love ceramics for its versatility and malleability, allowing for a seemingly endless variety of marks, surfaces, and three-dimensional sculptural forms. I find it fascinating that while ceramic artists all start with of a lump of clay, there’s an astounding breadth of work created from such humble beginnings. 

I am excited by the recognition that the field of ceramics is continuing to gain as a medium for fine art. I am also delighted to see the increase in wider understanding surrounding the value of the skills and knowledge held by makers who are experts in their field. 

I enjoy constantly learning as I continue to push the boundaries of my processes further and I am excited to dedicate my life to a future in ceramics. 

Learn more at www.verityhowardceramics.com.