Sue Rouillard

I have had a life long affinity with ceramics and have explored a number of the myriad of techniques that clay has to offer, always returning to hand building. For many years I focused on large burnished and smoked fired vessels, inspiration coming from my background as an archaeological illustrator and love of prehistoric ceramics. In sharp contrast I also find myself being lured into more colourful abstract patterning and I have delighted in the effects of pouring and trailing slips over damp terracotta and raw glazing.
Now I’m exploring slab building in stoneware which can be equally colourful. Here, surface marks and the inclusion of sands, gravels and sometimes crushed historical pottery within the fabric, anchor them to a location that has inspired me. While the relief printing can reflect an archaeological plan of a building linked to the date of the pottery inclusions or an observation of present day landscape.