 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
| |
LINDA STYLES
about linda
I have lived on this peninsula for 28 years, my love of this place beginning in the mid 1960's. My little nuclear family used to travel all the way down from London, every summer for 4 years in the back of my Dad's black cab. I was at this time, a strange misfit of a child on the brink of extraordinary times, which I will detail at a later date.
I have been many things and travelled many roads since then. I have settled for many years now, on being a professional maker of ceramic items. In my undergraduate years at Falmouth College of Arts I was selected for Ceramic Contemporaries 2, held at The Victoria and Albert Museum, I was also commissioned by Sir Terrance Conran to design an exclusive range of breakfast tableware for the Michelin House Conran Shop. In 1996 I went on to achieve a 1st class [Hon's] in Studio Ceramics, also appearing in 'Setting Out ' 96 at the Craftsman Potters Ass. London. I have continued to practice ceramics incessantly and compulsively ever since.
My work is hand built, multi fired and multi layered to which I add elements of concept and narrative within both the form and surface. The viewer/handler is invited to respond on an emotional level as opposed to intellectual. For this reason I prefer my work to serve a purpose, even if that purpose is not based on a functionality that is obvious in the traditional sense. I have used variations along this dysfunctional theme for many years now and continue to find that I am compelled to search for complexity and meaning within the smallest detail. My way of working is part habitual and contrived, yet gestural and spontaneous. I have always carried a tendency toward order as opposed to chaos. I am therefore compelled to confine, manage and control the chaotics of my gestural mark making and favoured overloads of colour. This methodology/aesthetic remains constant regardless of form. In this respect, I hope that my work refers to something more than just itself.
The words 'charming' and 'hideous' are often used to describe my work. I regard both as compliments.
These days I reclusively and obsessively work in my studio, lecture and curate. My current range includes figurative sculpture, dysfunctional hollow ware and assembled tile panels, paintings and drawings.
Linda Styles