Viewing Room 08: Ceramic artist Caroline Chouler-Tissier and painter Mary Blue

Mary Blue

The impermanence of the tidal landscape shapes the East Anglian coastline where Mary lives and the environments she captures in paint.

Her paint is applied in generous smears, slurps and splashes over expertly drawn, softer veils of underpainting. The clarity of the coastal air, its eddies and squalls feel part of her vision, described in the vigour of her brush strokes.

Mary received MA (Fine Arts) from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. She also studied at the Vermont Studio, the Maryland Art Institute, and Ecole des Arts d’Avignon France. Her work is exhibited in Norfolk, London and abroad. She was shortlisted for the Sir John Hurt Art Prize in 2020 and 2021.  

ARTIST STATEMENT

"My paintings reflect upon the impermanence of life and the forces of nature. I weave poetry into layers of jewel-toned colours exposing the overlooked hidden effects of time. I paint brilliant light and deep shadow, the far horizon and the passing of time.  I am drawn to the delicate, the broken, the most fleeting, these are timeless and possess a powerful resonance. At the crossroads of impermanence, beauty remains."

Caroline Chouler-Tissier

For this exhibition, Caroline has created two interconnected series: one using shards and “waste” from previous processes, the other exploring terracotta clay bodies where she combines thrown and extruded forms to create contrasting surfaces, allowing the clay to express multiple voices. These celebrate points of difference and connection between us, taking guidance from the adaptability of nature and earth’s endurance.

Hand-building, slab construction, and careful manipulation of soft and firm clay enable Caroline to explore thickness, resistance, and texture, while layered glazes and selective use of gold leaf accentuate surface variations. She has experimented with firing temperatures to reveal the natural qualities of each clay body, observing how colour, shrinkage, and texture respond to heat.

Some works integrate press-moulded fragments, which have been reconfigured to create new surfaces, while small terracotta pots explore intimate, enclosed forms. These are expressions of the layers of memory and emotional experience which are ongoing themes in her work, echoing patterns in landscape and strata of geological time.

Improvisation and chance play a key role in her work, as the clay’s reaction to these processes informs subsequent making decisions, echoing both the unpredictability of life and the human response to it. 

The pieces in this exhibition trace Caroline’s journey from childhood to the present, celebrating an evolving dialogue between maker, material, and process.

Caroline studied Ceramics 3D Design (BA) at Loughborough College of Art and Design, and Ceramics and Glass (MA) at the Royal College of Art.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My practice speaks of regeneration, resilience and self-reflection; to the commonality of the human condition. To the potential, through a greater connection with our landscape, for a closer relationship with one another.”