Claire Lardner Burke

Before I discovered my passion for ceramics I had spent almost a decade travelling. I lived and worked across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. When I returned to London, where I was born, I worked for a charity called Rise Phoenix, which worked with disadvantaged children using art and play therapy. I had always been a "maker" and during my travels had made jewellery, clothes and hats. In 2008 I attended a ceramic course at the Putney School of Art. It was there I discovered my love of working with clay, and found the prefect medium to express my creativity. 

  What other artists and makers do you admire and why?

Lucie Rie's work has been a constant inspiration to me. Her work is inspired by nature and architecture. It has a refined delicacy that I truly admire and love.

I have long been fascinated by the process of time upon things. I love the beautiful marks and colours created by age and weathering, particularly on rocks and stone. In my work I seek to capture something of this quiet beauty.

​When I first began working with clay I made small pinch pots for two years, on which I experimented continuously with textures, oxides, slips and glazes. Through this I made discoveries, found surprises and I loved the unpredictable beauty of the outcome. I now work on larger pieces that I throw on the wheel and I hand coil. This process creates delicate, light vessels using a 50/50 mixture of grogged stoneware and crank clay. When the pieces are leather hard, I carve into the surface to create rough textures which absorbs the glazes I then apply. I paint the pieces with oxides and glazes in multiple layers, often through multiple firings. Each piece is fired to between 1250 and 1260 degrees Celsius. My work in then surrendered to the kiln, accepting the unpredictably of the firing process and giving freedom to the glaze.

I’m still very humbled that other people enjoy and want to own my work. My only wish is that people find joy in the work.

I very much live in the present (with a nostalgic nod to the past). I’m not the kind of person that has a five year plan! This keeps me grounded and allows me to be fully immersed in my work. But I’ve made a promise to myself to spend more time in nature, which is of course my biggest source of inspiration. I will also aim to keep listening to that inner voice that guides me.