After Ash

County Hall Pottery is pleased to present After Ash, an exhibition exploring the transformative potential of wood firing, ash glazes, and alternative firing techniques in contemporary ceramics. Bringing together the work of nine artists, the exhibition engages with elemental processes in which fire, ash, and time converge to leave their often unpredictable, mark on clay.

Artists include: Fred Gwatkin, Ho Lai, Ian McDonald, Jim Gladwin, Juliet Ferguson-Rose, Jynsym Ong, Kazuya Ishida, Peter Nencini and Toni De Jesus

Through the intense alchemy of wood firing, surfaces are textured by flame, enriched by melted ash, and imbued with organic variations that cannot be replicated. The exhibition highlights the delicate balance between control and chance.

Lai’s sculptural forms challenge the boundaries between glaze, clay, and glass, offering a poetic exploration of transformation and impermanence through experimental firing techniques.

Gwatkin’s digitally coiled forms harness 3D printing to evoke natural growth and geological transformation, inviting a dialogue between emerging technologies and ancient firing methods.

Gladwin’s quietly composed sculptures emerge from a deep, intuitive engagement with clay and fire, drawing on decades of material knowledge to celebrate the elemental and the overlooked.

Ferguson-Rose’s layered clay compositions evoke imagined relics and archaeological topographies, blurring the boundaries between artefact, architecture, and fiction.

Jynsym’s vessels, rooted in domestic ritual and narrative symbolism, use wood-fired surfaces and house motifs to honour the quiet beauty of everyday life and the sanctity of the ordinary.

After Ash invites audiences to witness the tension between intention and accident, permanence and change, offering a powerful meditation on transformation and the beauty of fire’s unpredictable touch. By embracing these ancient yet continually evolving techniques, the exhibition reveals how material, process, and nature shape not only the work itself but also the creative spirit behind it.