Our featured Artist Member for April 2025 is ceramicist and illustrator Helen Beard.
Helen Beard’s distinctive pieces begin with drawings of quirky individuals and curious places, which she uses to illustrate her hand-thrown pots.
For Helen’s ‘bespoke’ collection every pot is individually thrown in Limoges porcelain on a potter’s wheel before being hand-painted. The pots are decorated using a technique that Helen developed to create an effect similar to watercolour and ink. Her freehand line drawing is transferred onto the pot and colour is painted over the drawing using different washes of ceramic stain. Each is unique – a work of art, but also a functional piece of domestic ware.
The ‘Dailyware’ pots are slip-cast in a Staffordshire porcelain from moulds of Helen’s wheel thrown forms. They are decorated with special lithographically printed ceramic decals of her artwork. A final firing melts the artwork into the glaze, so that it is tough enough for dishwashers, microwaves and everyday use.
Working within the heartlands of British industry, her tableware ceramics are handmade in Stoke on Trent, her textiles in Cheshire and fine art prints in Cumbria, ensuring that every product is of the highest quality and each has been sustainably produced.
I take inspiration from so many different places, but it’s my illustrations which are always my starting point for new pieces.
I love naive art and traditional folk art, where illustration meets craft. Illustrated children’s books are another lovely source for inspiration: there are such a range of creative styles: from print, to collage, to the more traditional watercolour and ink, I love the combination of narratives and artworks combined.
Well it’s totally chaotic right now! I work from home and we are in the middle of redeveloping our garden and garage to make a space for me to work in. While we take our time to build it (think Grand Designs – big idea, small budget), our storage space is demolished and I am currently squeezed into a room in our family home with floor to ceiling shelving, boxes piled high, stacks of tiles, pots, and textiles everywhere.
My favourite piece has to be the stop motion I made for AWARD at the British Ceramics Biennial, Ghost Town Britain. It was a very personal project responding to the pandemic. I bought a second hand camera and filmed it on our living room floor. I made over a 150 pieces of hand painted, wheel thrown and hand built porcelain depicting a cityscape. Using stop motion, I managed to bring the city to life and document how the landscape changed during COVID. I was at home with my three young children, so I really focused on the impact it was having on their lives.
I’ve had so many wonderful makers to support and inspire me. Clare Twomey and Craig Mitchell were my tutors at Art College, Twomey really challenged me to think hard about the conceptual ideas behind clay artworks and Mitchell brought an enormous sense of fun to medium. My experience as apprentice to Edmund de Waal was invaluable. He taught me how to throw using porcelain, he showed me the ins and outs of running a studio but perhaps most importantly, he showed me how exciting a career in ceramics can be.
A collection of Helen’s work is available to purchase in the gallery and via our online store.