Christina Peters
"Fusing form and surface with clean sculptural lines, balanced with organically derived finishes revealing traces of the ceramic process"
I make sculptural Raku pieces and domestic ware mainly with white grogged stoneware and porcelain. Forms include thrown or composite pots using slabs and plaster moulds, fusing form and surface with clean sculptural lines, balanced with organically derived finishes revealing traces of the ceramic process. I am influenced by Japanese styles, European modernism, the Bauhaus and Hans Coper, seeking contemporary interpretations of classic designs.
Hand-built raku pieces are thrown using grogged clay to withstand thermal shock, burnished and subsequently bisque fired. Most pieces have resist slip and glazes applied and fired in a ‘Raku’ gas kiln. Lifted red hot from the kiln into a post firing sawdust reduction chamber, resist glaze is later chipped off and the pot cleaned and waxed. This creates original black and white contrasting linear markings on the clay body with the quality and beauty of natural stone.
I moved to Devon in 2001 with my young family, where Nic Collins introduced me to ‘the wheel’. Since 2004, I have studied with Dan Chapple, whose expertise in raku firing has been very inspiring. As a professional ceramicist at FLAMEWORKS in Plymouth from 2008, I make individual ceramic pieces and run ceramic workshops and classes.