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Last month we hosted a Welsh Learners event and enjoyed a fascinating talk from local ceramicist Erin Lloyd. Erin’s work is on permanent display in the gallery so why not pop in and have a look! Erin is an artist and potter based in North Wales who loves experimenting with Earth's properties such as plants, trees, wild clay and natural minerals as they hold endless possibilities. Each of her pieces are hand-crafted which ensures each item is unique. Born and raised in rural North Wales on her family’s farm, Erin's parents have always encouraged a deep relationship with nature and the land. They have shown her how creative Earth's natural pigments are and how they colour the landscape. Influenced by this and her work as a Heritage Management Archaeologist, her miniature ceramics are investigating mankind’s relationship with nature provoked by earth pigments within the landscape. Erin has a deep fascination with nature - alway studying the natural structures within lichens, fungi, fearns, plants, wild flowers, trees, and rocks. Alongside this, Erin loves earth pigments, and how prehistoric (Neolithic) and historical societies processed and used pigments culturally . From ochre Neolithic cave drawings showing a developing culture, to the historical process of purple dyes by boiling marine snail for the wealthy's cloth to show status, earth pigments and natural pigments have been a vital part in mankind's history which has derived from the natural world we inhabit today. Erin's interest and love of earth pigments is prominent in her contemporary ceramics as she uses the ancient ochre pigment, a prominent bright orange colour within the landscape, foraged from the family's farmland in her glazes. Erin's ceramics is currently investigating natural glazes and the human connection to Earth's pigments. How the pigments in the landscape create a relationship between mankind and nature. Her unique pottery allows people to take a physical piece of the Welsh landscape home. Having studied East Asian Religions and Cultures, Erin became familiar with East Asian pottery forms. However, Erin is more drawn to miniature ceramics, through throwing small vessels off the hump on the pottery wheel. Outside of ceramics, Erin works as a Heritage Management Archaeologist and is a keen horticulturalist who lives in the Vale of Clwyd.
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