Liz Lawrence has been working professionally as a ceramic artisan since 2000,after graduating from the University of the West of England. Tutored by Walter Keeler, Mo Jupp and Nicholas Homoky, Liz has forged a career in ceramics and now works from a purpose built workshop in her garden in South Wales. 

Liz finds working with porcelain a complex challenge but for her it is a far more rewarding experience than creating an image on a flat plane. Using simple shapes she seeks to produce work that will create a lasting impression finding an enduring effect far more satisfying.

The work is refined but still retains some evidence of being hand made. This establishes a personal note - a more intimate communication. The feel of a finished piece is very important to Liz, she likes contrasts, silk against linen and, as with fabric, she believes that it is possible to pair different ceramic surfaces together with pleasing results.

Most of Liz's work is thrown and turned and sometimes joined. Rims may be re-shaped after wetting. The whiteness of the porcelain acts as a 3D canvas onto which she applys stained slips and glazes.  She paints these directly onto the raw piece using a soft brush.  The designs are achieved by latex resist or sgraffito. The pieces are all fired once only (or raw fired) to cones 8-9 in an oxidised electric kiln.

Single firing has always been an important aspect of Liz's work. She finds working on green ware a very tactile experience - the pots retain a feeling of being 'alive' right up until they are placed in the kiln. She has never taken to progressing the dead, carcass like, pots that a bisque firing delivers up.