ANNA SILVERTON

Anna Silverton (b.1959) is a British ceramicist. Born in Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Silverton completed her foundation course at Cheltenham, before moving to London to train at Camberwell School of Art. She subsequently gained her MA at the Royal College of Art in 1987 where she won a travel scholarship used to visit Syracuse Everson Museum, USA. Following completion of her MA, she took residence in Syracuse, New York for three years. Upon her return, she established a working studio in London through the aid of a Craft Council Grant. Beginning as a hand-builder, Anna Silverton’s delicate and fine vases and bowls are wheel thrown in porcelain. The origins of her work as a hand-builder influences her to this day, as she thinks about each work as a one off piece rather than repetitive forms. Each piece is hand-thrown on the potter’s wheel, with larger pieces sometimes also cut, reassembled and reshaped. Stretching the physical properties of the materials she works with, Silverton accentuates each form and hones the profile of each piece with precise carved lines when turning on the wheel, delineating the works into segments. The artist uses these incised bands to punctuate the shapes and profiles of her pieces and enhance their volume. Her experiments with glazes result in subtly different colours and textures, alongside contrasting matte and glossy finishes. The inherently repetitive nature of wheel-throwing allows Silverton to focus on the gradual renewal and reinvention of her pieces. With a focus on creating forms that combine elegance with visual surprise, Silverton enjoys working with porcelain because of its throwing texture, which she exploits by stretching to its limit. Whilst her meticulous approach demands discipline and control, the unique forms of her pieces remain playful.