The Burton at Bideford Ceramics Residency Exhibition: Platter by Florence Dwyer

The Burton at Bideford's Ceramic Artist in Residence Florence Dwyer has been creating work in response to the RJ Lloyd Collection of North Devon slipware.

Drawn to the historic North Devon custom where people threw pottery shards at a person’s door on Shrove Tuesday if they took a disliking to them, Florence has embodied this act of throwing, pouring, chucking, dropping, spilling and crushing to create a series of platters; dishes for gathering, sharing and collecting.

These platters have been made by using the leaf resist technique for decorating seen throughout the Collection, whereby fresh leaves were pressed into the damp clay body before applying a contrasting layer of slip.

Much like the North Devon potters who would work quickly using whatever materials they had to hand, Florence has used discarded bits of paper, leaves, newspaper cut outs, found objects and collages made at workshops at The Burton earlier this year to create works that capture fleeting and poignant autobiographical moments.

Florence is a Glasgow-based artist who works predominantly with ceramics. She was Artist in Residence at the V&A museum in 2022–23, researching across the collections at V&A South Kensington and V&A Wedgwood Collection. See florencedwyer.com

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