Craig Mitchell
2026 – Taking part in Potfest Scotland- Scone Palace
My figurative clay sculptures are intended to be visual puns about the human condition. I like my work to be ambiguous and offer the viewer visual clues and use titles as a way into the true meaning. Narratives based on personal experiences and cultural observations draw the reader in a with a smile before titles or symbols suggest alternative, sometimes darker interpretations. The characters that I make explore the constant unravelling of events in contemporary culture as well as universal themes such as love, loss and the different roles people play in society. I respond to events in my personal life and in the wider world; snippets of conversation or words and phrases that I hear spark an image in my imagination. Nothing escapes scrutiny, chance comments, potentially insignificant interactions and day-to-day life get refracted through my imagination and is my way of relating to the increasingly bizarre reality which forms the fabric of our daily lives. At the core of each work is a message, for example I might ridicule conspicuous consumption, send-up pretentious behaviour, myself included or react to new technology with a nostalgic enjoyment of the vintage to create contemporary fables in clay.
To construct my figures I roll out flat sheets of clay that I cut when leather hard, using paper templates that I have developed for each piece, rather like a tailor (or the shoemaker in the fairy tale) uses patterns. I build each component separately (feet, legs, torso) before joining them together. I generally fire larger elements in sections (eg figure and moped) often lying down or in a bespoke handmade setter. Once fired I assemble the finished glazed parts with steel pins and epoxy glue in order to achieve the dynamic poses.
I predominately use Scarva ES20 white earthenware hand building clay which is then decorated with commercial underglazes and glazes sometimes with the addition of decals and lustres. I often use textures and decorative patterns at different stages of the making process. This may involve incising pattern into plaster bats and taking latex moulds which can be applied to surfaces.