Blue-Slate Stoneware Vessel, 2005

Paul Philp (b. 1941)
Blue-Slate Stoneware Vessel
English, 2005

Hand-built stoneware
Impressed with the artist’s stamp

Heavily textured and layered in slate blue, mineral white and earthy brown. Organic and elemental, it looks as though it has spent centuries submerged—encrusted with salt, sediment and time.

Philp has spent more than five decades developing a highly individual ceramic practice centered around hand-built forms and complex, layered firing techniques. Working outside the constraints of the potter’s wheel, he constructs each work slowly and intuitively, applying thin layers of material over multiple firings to achieve surfaces of considerable depth and subtlety. His work often evokes archaeological fragments or ancient architectural remains while resisting direct narrative interpretation.

Born in 1941, Philp studied ceramics at Cardiff Art School and later devoted many years to the restoration of Llansôr Mill in Monmouthshire using traditional building methods and reclaimed materials. Since returning fully to ceramics, he has produced a body of work distinguished by its meditative quality, technical sophistication, and deeply tactile surfaces. Philp’s work is represented in numerous important collections, including the Musée des Beaux Arts, Montréal; the Cité de la Céramique, Sèvres; and the Musée Ariana, Geneva.

“The idea and philosophy behind my work is to produce objects that look as if they have happened by a natural process — objects that have been discovered rather than made. In the case of the vessels, I am looking for a timeless quality with a classic simplicity of form.” — Paul Philp

PROVENANCE
Acquired from the artist.