Exhibition: Maria De Haan

Mallorca based British Artist Maria De Haan has worked with Ceramics for 13 years. Having completed a diploma in Ceramics at London's Westminster University, Maria undertook a series of apprenticeships, tutelage under master potter Simon Leach and a residency in the West Indies under Mike Goddard.  Maria went on to set up her own studio in London and continued to develop her individual style of smoke- firing. Moving to the Balearics in 2015, she is currently building an outdoor studio in an ancient olive grove in the Tramuntana mountains where she can work surrounded by nature. Enjoying the paradox of raw elements (fire, burning wood, smoke, open flames, burning materials) having direct contact with such a translucent, clean surface, Maria was amazed when she first started experimenting with porcelain, that it could withstand smoke-firing, such a primitive firing technique. Usually throwing with a heavily grogged clay, rough in texture, Maria finds the unforgiving nature of porcelain a challenge to work with, with lots of losses in firing, however when a piece survives it is worth the extra work that has gone into it.