Sam Hall |
Sam Hall
Sam Hall was born in West Yorkshire, he now lives and works in St Ives. Sam Hall studied at Harrogate College of Art and Design and then at Loughborough College of Art and Design where he received a BA in Ceramics. Sam Hall has been throwing pots since leaving college in 1990 and has exhibited in a number of galleries, including Cork Street in London.
Sam Hall's work is primarily thrown, however, this is just the start of a working process that goes through many stages with much work being done after the stoneware firing. Each piece starts as a simple form; a surface is then built up using slips, oxides and glazes, often being worked many times over. The use of scored lines, random marks and a sombre palette help to create a tension where drawing and form cohabit together.
Working alongside the potter John Bedding in recently developed workshops, Sam Hall finds that the association between St Ives and pottery has been the catalyst from which his recent work has evolved. As Sam Hall himself says:
“Working with a strong awareness of tradition, within St Ives and on the wheel, my work has, for all intents and purposes, found itself deeply rooted in the pottery tradition.
There are very few elements that contribute to the making of the work. Generally very few glazes (one white glaze!), the rest is down to oxides and the clay body.
The forms also follow a strict formula and vary little from the straight cylinder, which can be then squashed and stretched.
It is through these restrictions of form and glaze, and the traditional environment by which I am surrounded, that the pieces that I produce exist.”