"Sometimes, you encounter a body of water so beautiful you commit it to memory. But what happens as memory meets hands, fire, and water?"
Glass artist Celia Dowson and ceramicist Chloé Rosetta Bell present a collaborative collection that explores this meeting of memory, material, fluidity and time, creating pieces that recall impressions and visible traces imprinted within the landscape. For Dowson the exploration of form, colour and depth in glass opens up a contemplative space for viewers to reflect upon the rhythms of the atmosphere; for Bell, shell and ash surfaces evolve on clay as vehicles to hold memories of her bodily experience in the land.
"Chloé and I have been talking for a while now about the threads that run through both our practices - how similar ideas show themselves in different ways through the materials we use and the way we make. When reflecting on our conversations and this collaboration, I've come to see our practices as a kind of living archive , where land, material and object meet, and a way for us to create a feeling of connection through our work.
There's a simplicity and truthfulness to objects, shaped by complex processes, refined and softened until you are left with form. My process is slow, involving model making, excavating, carving and shaping, and sanding back layers. Recently, I've become increasingly drawn to the connection between glass and water, how they behave in similar ways, how they flow, reflect, hold light, and hold colour. They are contained yet expansive, holding space and evoking a sense of feeling and reflection. Light is an essential part of my work, not only in its appearance, but also in how it feels. In both water and glass, light becomes material; it moves through colour, shifts with opacity, and takes form. Light is not just something seen, but something experienced. This work is a meditation on these ideas, inviting you to feel part of the landscape as it shifts and moves, revealing itself through material, colour and light."
Celia Dowson May 2025