NANCY FULLER

Nancy Fuller was born in a village in Taiwan and was raised in the countryside in Scotland. Nancy received a BA in Fine Art Printmaking in 1994 and a MA in the History of Art and Archaeology of Asia, before discovering a love for wood-fired ceramics whilst studying Chinese Mandarin in Taiwan in 2000. She studied pottery at Jhunan Snake Kiln, Jhunan and Wenshan Ceramics Studio, Taipei, before training under Suzuki Shigeji in anagama-firing and traditional Japanese ceramic techniques in Shigaraki, Japan. 

In 2007 Nancy returned to Aberdeenshire, Scotland and designed and built her own anagama, a type of traditional Japanese wood kiln, which she fires all of her pieces in. Nancy’s works are traditional forms that express landscape, a time of year and the maker. The natural quality of Nancy’s pieces is achieved through coiling, which gives them softened outlines which are subsequently softened further during the firing process.  

Nancy has developed her own wood-fired aesthetic through combining selected raw materials and her firing technique. Her pieces all originate as clay and are fired with a mixture of split pine and beech. After a firing of 4 days and 3 nights, intriguing surface effects are caused by the interplay of the wood ash and mineral inclusions within the clay.