Ceramics by Elliot Hawitt-Palmer
Originally from the Lake District, I now live and work in the Cambridgeshire Fens. My work is deeply inspired by the natural beauty and unique landscape around me, the vast vaulting skies, the ever-distant horizons, the quiet ubiquity of the waterways. I strive to make all my pieces in collaboration with the land, following the same practices that potters in the Fens have used for thousands of years, making from local materials I forage myself. In many ways, a pot is a piece of the place that it comes from, an embodiment of the history and character of the land. I’m fascinated by the idea that ceramics are more than just functional objects, that they are vessels for individual narratives, emotions and identities.
I think all artists have their own reasons for creating; my personal philosophy centres around the idea that ceramics represent a kind of love triangle between the maker, the user, and the object itself. In the first instance, the process of shaping clay is both intimate and transformative; pottery is an act of devotion and a form of expression, and each piece is carefully designed with your contentment in mind. From my hands to yours, I aim to make vessels of beauty, but a pot or bowl is not complete until it fulfils its intended purpose, and it is the user's interaction and appreciation that give it life and meaning. Each piece carries the imprint of the hands that crafted it and the hands that use it, creating a tangible link between people across time and space. The object itself, in its quiet existence, holds the stories and emotions of both.