British ceramicist Barry Stedman brings a painterly touch to Maud & Mabel

Maud & Mabel are very excited to be hosting the work of Barry Stedman – a British ceramicist and artist who combines his love of mark making and drawing from nature to create expressive vessels and works on paper that are full of energy and life.

Barry Stedman, Thrown Vessel White and Black, £240 

Mark making, detail of a hand thrown vessel by Barry Steadman 

Using red earthenware clay, his pieces are either thrown on the wheel or built up using slabs and worked into subtle irregular shapes.  These strong, simple forms are the canvas where Barry works his painterly magic.  Confident stripes and washes of glaze dance across the surface, together with expressive hand drawn lines and marks. 

Barry Stedman, Thrown Vessel with White with Black, £390

In the same way that an artist builds up layers of paint, subtle layers of washes and oxides are lightly applied, wiped away and reworked and it’s during this process that the beauty of Barry’s handcrafted pieces come to light.  Playful relationships are formed between lights and darks, rough and smooth finishes and where edges meet, overlap and merge.

Barry Stedman, Thrown Vessel White with Black, detail, £160

There is a wonderful spontaneity and freshness to his ceramics. They are like expressive charcoal sketches created in flash of inspiration. Yet there is depth too, every time you turn one of his pieces in your hand, you notice something different, whether it be a change in finish from matt to gloss, a contrast of texture, or a change of tempo in mark-making. They are pieces that rarely fail to excite.  

Barry Stedman, Framed painting in pencil, pastel and gouache on paper, £450

We are very pleased to have a selection of handcrafted vessels and one of his paintings available online and in our Hampstead store@maudandmabel.com.

Painting and ceramics by Barry Stedman available at Maud & Mabel