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.

“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.”

Caroline Chouler-Tissier