Cicely Peers’ practice negotiates the boundaries between the handmade and mass produced, combining modern technologies with the more traditional ceramic techniques of slip casting. Using CAD she has devised a bespoke modular method of constructing segmental moulds for slip cast – an approach which enables her to design parts of great complexity and detail. The innovative method of mould assembly ensures that each piece can be a one-off. She hopes the finished form of her objects will prove visually appealing and make the viewer curious about materiality and the processes involved in their creation.
In the Summer of 2021 Cicely designed the ‘St David’s Collection’ for her Manchester Metropolitan University degree show. On the back of this she was awarded the opportunity to go out to Guldagergaard Ceramics Research Centre, Denmark to explore her practice further. Here she absorbed a wealth of knowledge from the international group of new ceramicists on the programme and experimented further with wood firing. Here too Cicely revelled in the freedom to explore new materials and methods, evolving her St David’s collection, not least through wood firing and the use of soda.
