Ceramics Monthly: Beginning as a storyteller using two-dimensional processes, you experienced a shift to clay a decade ago. While drawing and painting allow for speed and control, clay, in contrast, demands patience and, at times, an acceptance of failure. What determines what lives only on paper and what moves into three dimensions? How does the choice of medium affect your storytelling?
Katy Stubbs: Pretty much everything still starts out as a sketch, then I decide what to do with a certain story or series of images from there. Clay will always be the backbone of everything I do. Storytelling is both more fun and more complicated. The physical forms function as part of the narration. I like to use the other side of a pot to reveal a surprise or mix sculpture with my illustrations. You can really let your imagination go wild when you can build whatever-shaped canvas you want. It gives me two completely different ways to tell stories all at the same time.
Sometimes, making things not in clay can give me a renewed sense of freedom and a dash more nonchalance, which can be really helpful to bring back. And other times, paintings or drawings act as a relief because I need a bit of a break from the potential disappointment of yet another broken, or worse, a not-quite-right ceramic piece. Also, the joy of knowing what something looks like before it’s too late can’t be understated.
CM: Despite having three distinct mediums at play, humor seems to be a strong thread in your work. Can you talk a little about why and how you use humor to soften the darker subject matter you often depict?
KS: I find it quite hard to be sincere in real life. I feel a bit queasy when I hear people say things from their heart, and really sick when I accidentally say something like that myself. It’s probably some sort of cowardice, but it’s too late for me to start now, so everything has a humorous tone. I have always thought humans were basically, or for the most part, very bad. It’s way more fun for me and whoever sees my work if that message includes something that I find funny.
I started out thinking I wanted to be an illustrator or make comics. And, with comics, the part I always got a kick out of was drawing attention to the inconsequential details. Someone might be beating up another person in an alleyway, but behind them, there are posters for a perfume and a magic show. Or a magician trying to wrap a dead dove up in newspaper and has the sellotape stuck to his white glove. The detail is what I think lightens the whole scene, and I love how flippant it feels.
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Ceramics Monthly: Beginning as a storyteller using two-dimensional processes, you experienced a shift to clay a decade ago. While drawing and painting allow for speed and control, clay, in contrast, demands patience and, at times, an acceptance of failure. What determines what lives only on paper and what moves into three dimensions? How does the choice of medium affect your storytelling?
Katy Stubbs: Pretty much everything still starts out as a sketch, then I decide what to do with a certain story or series of images from there. Clay will always be the backbone of everything I do. Storytelling is both more fun and more complicated. The physical forms function as part of the narration. I like to use the other side of a pot to reveal a surprise or mix sculpture with my illustrations. You can really let your imagination go wild when you can build whatever-shaped canvas you want. It gives me two completely different ways to tell stories all at the same time.
Sometimes, making things not in clay can give me a renewed sense of freedom and a dash more nonchalance, which can be really helpful to bring back. And other times, paintings or drawings act as a relief because I need a bit of a break from the potential disappointment of yet another broken, or worse, a not-quite-right ceramic piece. Also, the joy of knowing what something looks like before it’s too late can’t be understated.
CM: Despite having three distinct mediums at play, humor seems to be a strong thread in your work. Can you talk a little about why and how you use humor to soften the darker subject matter you often depict?
KS: I find it quite hard to be sincere in real life. I feel a bit queasy when I hear people say things from their heart, and really sick when I accidentally say something like that myself. It’s probably some sort of cowardice, but it’s too late for me to start now, so everything has a humorous tone. I have always thought humans were basically, or for the most part, very bad. It’s way more fun for me and whoever sees my work if that message includes something that I find funny.
I started out thinking I wanted to be an illustrator or make comics. And, with comics, the part I always got a kick out of was drawing attention to the inconsequential details. Someone might be beating up another person in an alleyway, but behind them, there are posters for a perfume and a magic show. Or a magician trying to wrap a dead dove up in newspaper and has the sellotape stuck to his white glove. The detail is what I think lightens the whole scene, and I love how flippant it feels.
1 Photo: Tegan Williams. 2 Photo: Lucy Emms.
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