LAUREN WINSTONE

Lauren Winstone’s new work returns to functional ceramics in the form of the lidded container. Stemming from a commission to create an urn, they are offshoots from the process of working on a funereal object and as a result they have a meditative and introspective quality. Although these containers are not specifically urns, something of the ritualistic quality is retained. In the artist’s pursuit of refining particular shapes, their remaking creates subtle changes. There is an evolution of form that parallels changes in perspective, and in doing so charts shifts on a personal level. Things let go of, things retained. A suite of drawings extends on this theme. Winstone spent time over spring and summer making automatic drawings; the forms emerging appear like abstracted versions of new growth. There is a tentative quality in their making, a very soft, ‘just-there’ rendering, a gentle approach that is at the heart of both the pot making and drawing processes.