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Bridget Johnson

Biography

Bridget, while studying for her BA in Ceramics, explored a diverse range of hand building processes before being finally drawn to the traditional West African technique of coiling. Attracted by the tactile and Zen-like qualities of this ancient method, she experiences feeling completely at one with her clay, as she gives birth to each exclusive piece.

Bridget’s finely hand-coiled, organic forms are burnished, bisque fired, and then smoke fired with a carefully selected collection of natural materials to produce their unique colours and markings.

The intensity and precision involved in the creation of each piece is further enhanced by the excitement and drama of smoke firing. As the vessel is subjected to the smoke and flames, alchemy takes over resulting in each celebrating its own distinctive attitude and identity.

Bridget’s latest work explores a more textured burnished finish, creating a luminous, velvety, matte surface which seems to absorb and glow with the surrounding light.

The textured markings echo the natural, fractal-like patterns and features of the Devon landscape where she lives, between the moors, surrounded by ancient forests, and the tones produced in the smoke firing reflect the natural colour palette of the moors, the forests and the ever-changing sky.