Lydia Collings
Lydia Collings is a ceramic artist who specialises in raku and smoke firing techniques
Her work includes abstract form, female torsos, vessels, animals and non-functional pots. Every piece is individually crafted and unique. The pieces are burnished using homemade terra sigillata (an ultrafine clay slip) and fired between 950°C and 1100°C. Her work is hand-built using a variety of techniques mainly slab building and press moulding. Her interest is sculptural forms rather than functional pots. Each piece is unique, rich in contrasts, light and dark, coloured or black and white, straight lines or curved, shaped and smooth. All these characteristics can be found in nature which is Lydia’s source of inspiration. Her work is suitable for indoors only and the height ranges from 10 to 40 cm. The surfaces of her pieces are unglazed, smoke fired and marked by either seaweed, dried twigs, recycled newspapers, discarded horse hair or oxides. Recently, she has been exploring bright colours with Porcelain and high fire clays.
Originally she studied Political Sciences and English literature and later specialised in language teaching. Lydia began her journey with clay in 1995. She says: “I was a complete novice.” In the summer of 1997, she attended her first workshop in Florence with the British sculptor Mo Jupp. He was a key influence in Lydia’s career as he encouraged her to start exhibiting her work. Since then, she attended several workshops in the UK and Europe with internationally renowned ceramicists. In 2000, she set up her own studio in Cambridgeshire and has since been exhibiting in the UK. In 2010 she obtained a BA degree in Ceramic Design from Glasgow School of Art. She is a member of Anglian Potters and Cambridge Open Studios.
Primavera has a collection of 9 of her pieces.