Ceramic artist Gráinne in book and exhibition
WICKLOW ceramic artist Gráinne Watts has been selected by an international panel for inclusion in Portfolio: Critical Selection, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland’s biennial publication for showcasing the work of Irish designer-makers.
Gráinne will also have her work featured in ‘Narratives in Making’, an exhibition showing at the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, from Friday, May 12, until Wednesday, July 5. She is one of 28 designer-makers to be selected to appear in the exhibition and the biennial publication.
The exhibition includes new works by the Irish makers across a variety of disciplines, including ceramics, wood, leather, basketry, glass, metals, furniture and jewellery.
Gráinne graduated from the National College of Art & Design in 1982 and subsequently undertook an apprenticeship with Geoffrey Healy Pottery in Wicklow.
Her current work features a collection of thrown vessels and a series of sculptural forms in porcelain and stoneware. In these pieces she explores surface detail through various decorative techniques. As well as themes of erosion and evolution, animals and animal motifs recur in her work. Specifically, she draws inspiration from the various ways animals are used and adorned for festival parades and rituals.