Joanna Still is primarily interested in the information vessels’ contain, their cultural significance and historical context. Winspit, 2020 and Hawking Down, 2019 are part of Still’s collection of smoke fired vessels. These pieces are hand thrown on a potter’s wheel and their surfaces are worked over with both metal tools and stones to achieve an energetic surface. Once dry, fine clay ‘slips’ and metal oxides are applied, and the vessels are polished before being fired. After the vessels have cooled they are wrapped in dried plant material and buried in a sawdust filled kiln chamber to be smoke fired. Producing unglazed, smoke fired vessels reflects Still’s fascination in the elemental characteristics of the firing process. It also produces a textured surface, with some areas carbonised and others displaying smoke shadows and imprints from the plant matter. This provides illusions of space and depth, allowing Still to explore landscapes through vessels’ forms.

Still was born in 1951 and lives and works in Wiltshire. She studied Studio Ceramics at Harrow School of Art before setting up her own studio. Still’s work has developed over 30 years of practice and has been further progressed by projects in Spain, Mexico, Ethiopia, Zambia, the Canaries, the Caribbean and French Polynesia, where she studied traditional ceramics and often worked with indigenous potters. She was awarded grants and Awards for equipment, research and development from Southern Arts and The Craft Pottery Charitable Trust in 1987. Still has exhibited at locations including Messums Wiltshire, Swindon Museum & Art Gallery, Lots Road, London, Ceramic Art London, Arlington Arts Centre, Sydney Conservatorium, Australia and for the Southern Arts touring exhibition.