Kathryn Hearn was a ceramic maker and designer who developed her distinctive porcelain vessels by exploiting the intrinsic qualities of her materials, inspired by the Fenland landscape that surrounded her workshop in Cambridgeshire.
Sadly, Katherine died earlier in the summer, June 2025. Her estate is currently being administered by her family who will be putting Katheryn's back catalogue into a workable framework for those who are interested. There will be an announcement made at the point they have been able to proceed with their plans for her legacy.
Kathryn attained a degree in Ceramics at Loughborough College of Art and Design (Loughborough University) and has spent many years teaching her discipline at Sunderland University and Central Saint Martin's London (University of the Arts London).
Employing a formidable variety of techniques developed over many years, Kathryn works mainly in porcelain exploring the nature of the contemporary in relation to the natural and manmade. Filtered through her experience of the highly mechanised agricultural landscape of the Fens, she produces classically shaped jars, dishes, vases and wall pieces that encompass several intricate stages in their production process.
The manmade landscape of the Fens are a constant source of inspiration for her, huge expanses of sky meeting the horizon made indistinct by ground mists, against highly defined field boundaries, dykes and ditches.
Kathryn introduces the cool finish of the flax paper porcelain in hand-built layers, often contrasted with shims of highly coloured laminated porcelain inserted to punctuate the dominance of the base material. The combination creates a tension in her surfaces that elevates simple forms into objects that delight the eye, feel animated and beautifully considered.
