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Deirdre McLoughlin

Deirdre McLoughlin Ceramicist
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A life shaped through clay

  • • Deirdre mainly uses the technique of coiling clay
  • • Inspiration comes while working
  • • A career highlight was exhibiting in New York

Deirdre McLoughlin took a degree in humanities at Trinity College Dublin. But soon after, while in Amsterdam, she discovered clay as a medium of expression and this was to become her life’s work. Several years in Japan helped galvanise her aesthetic and travel has remained an inspiration over the years, helping her to disrupt her “mental habits of seeing and being”. The world of dance and movement also inspires her, as does anyone “working with passion in whatever activity that aids well being in the world”. Now based back in Amsterdam, she considers herself a visual artist, using the technique of coiling to create forms. “I express myself through clay and forms express themselves through me,” she says.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Rob Bohle
  • © Rob Bohle
  • © Rob Bohle
  • © Rob Bohle
Photo: © Rob Bohle
Bare Bones

This sculpture was created with the notion of eliminating a physical body. It is a drawing of lines poised in the air, cutting into and around space with staccato and meandering movements. It can be hooked to the wall at any angle.

Height 35 cm
Length 35 cm
Width 30 cm

Photo: © Rob Bohle
Open Mind

Deirdre coiled this shape around empty space rather than into space. The inner form of the grey sculpture was gently hammered while the clay was soft, and the outer skin was diamond polished through multiple firings. Glaze was applied to parts of the interior.

Height 20 cm
Length 30 cm
Width 20 cm

Photo: © Rob Bohle
Sisyphus Bites

To create this piece, Deirdre built the form with coils of clay then broke it, built on it and broke it again in a continuous building and breaking action until the form, in an instant, seemed ‘right’. The work was fired multiple times and diamond polished.

Height 20 cm
Length 30 cm
Width 20 cm

Photo: © Rob Bohle
Fired

This work was coiled with a building and breaking action. It is finely balanced and the grey lines are inlaid. Through multiple firings the form reached maturity. It was then diamond polished.

Height 28 cm
Length 16 cm
Width 20 cm

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