ABOUT
Jilly Russell
Jilly throws in porcelain. She learnt traditional studio pottery at school with Tessa Lomas and after her science degree, joined a small studio pottery in Scotland where she threw production stoneware and hand-built slab pots in both salt glaze reduction and raku kilns.
Amongst other things, she has taught for over 35 years, been a Shiatsu practitioner, Pilates instructor and learning difficulties specialist. In 2018 she re-discovered her passion for clay and set up Vessel Ceramics Studio in Moretonhampstead in 2023.
‘I have always felt that ceramics hold the touch and soul of the maker for others to forever feel. I aim to make vessels I’d like to give or receive. Hopefully, they will be thoughtfully designed, carefully made, and beautiful. It makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying my work.
My influences are from simple design, life experiences and the natural world. I throw and hand-build delicate or more rustic vessels in porcelain and stoneware. I sometimes play with surface decoration and I’m learning and exploring all the time including experimenting with my own glazes.
Each vessel is either glazed or polished before being high-fired in oxidising conditions and they always contain a little bit of joy within them!’
‘Quiet poise and an assured aesthetic are what stands out in Jilly’s work. I also love her addition of creativity when making mugs, by adding an extra handle or putting a handle arc inside as well.’
JJP Digital Craft Festival November 2020
Jilly is a proud member of Find a Maker, Associate member of the Craft Potters Association, Devon Artists Network and the Westcountry Potters Association.
Why Vessel Ceramics?
Of course there’s the obvious ceramic container - mostly for fluids but, there are other associations too. The most obvious one is with ships/boats which can take you on a journey. Blood vessels carry your life-force through your body. We can’t do without them. I’ve been doing the ‘I Ching’ (ancient Chinese oracle) since I trained in Shiatsu years ago and one of the readings is for ‘The Vessel’. It represents; transformation and connection to the invisible spiritual world, a founding symbol of a family or dynasty, renewal and the hidden possibility of clear, decisive action.
Women are vessels for children, for families. Lots of us ‘hold’ the people we care for to nourish & nurture them. Sometimes we feel stronger when we (as vessels) are full but the thing is, we can be strong empty and if, in our fragility, we crack or break, we can look more beautiful for being mended.