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© Holly Wesley
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© Shannon Tofts

Lorna Fraser

  • Ceramicist
  • Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • Master Artisan
Lorna Fraser Ceramicist
© All rights reserved

Clay happy

  • • When Lorna puts her hands to clay, she feels truly content
  • • She translates the beauty of the natural world into ceramics
  • • She finds endless inspiration in the botanical world

There are not many people that have found their happy place, but Lorna Fraser has: she has found it in the feeling of putting her hands to clay. She creates sculptural one-off pieces, small series of works and site-specific installations. Lorna has her own studio in the heart of Edinburgh, a short walk from the Royal Botanic Garden, which provides her with endless inspiration. “I delight in looking at all types of plants – from the giant leaves of tropical water lilies to the formation of tiny lichens growing on a wall.” She also draws inspiration from the huge collection of pressed plant specimens and became one of three makers representing Scotland in the British Pavilion at the opening of the 2017 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Shannon Tofts
  • © Shannon Tofts
  • © Shannon Tofts
  • © Shannon Tofts
  • © Shannon Tofts
Photo: © Shannon Tofts
Hybrid

A complex handbuilt white object made from porcelain clay. In this one-off work Lorna has taken her favourite composite parts of plants to imagine her own hybrid. This work, as with many of Lorna Fraser’s work, explores the sculptural quality of plants, responding to their structures whilst selecting favourite composite shapes in order to create her own ceramic “hybrids”.

Height 27 cm
Diameter 17 cm

Photo: © Shannon Tofts
Specimen Jars

These works are part of the series Specimen Jars which are inspired by the pickled plant specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Plants that are too fragile to be pressed and dried are instead stored in spirit within glass jars. Lorna was captivated by these specimens and they inspired her to translate them into her artwork. They are handbuilt using porcelain clay.

Height 18 cm
Diameter 13 cm
Height 28 cm
Diameter 9 cm
Height 23.5 cm
Diameter 11 cm

Photo: © Shannon Tofts
Specimen Jars

These works are part of the series Specimen Jars, which are inspired by the pickled plant specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Plants that are too fragile to be pressed and dried are stored in spirit within glass jars. Lorna was captivated by these specimens in Vienna and was inspired to translate these into her artwork. They are handbuilt using porcelain clay.

Height 28 cm
Diameter 9 cm
Height 23.5 cm
Diameter 11 cm
Height 18 cm
Diameter 13 cm

Photo: © Shannon Tofts
Water Lily

A complex handbuilt white object made from porcelain clay. The underside of the leaf of the Amazonica water lily is covered in predatory spikes, which ensures domination of its watery habitat. This observation inspired Lorna to make this porcelain sculpture. The challenge for her was to capture in clay a sense of the gentle movement of these spikes in the water.

Height 15 cm
Diameter 27 cm

Photo: © Shannon Tofts
Spirit Collection

This work is inspired by the plant specimens in the herbarium collections of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh that are too fragile to be pressed and dried, so are instead stored in spirit within glass jars. Lorna has placed porcelain forms inspired by conifers inside bespoke acrylic boxes and attached in such a way that they give a sense that they are floating within the box. They are handbuilt using porcelain clay.

Height 28 cm
Length 24 cm
Width 9 cm

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