Jane Sheppard

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previously shown in

cloth and clay 2024

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sculptural ceramics 2026

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Jane is interested in what makes us human. She investigates ways of seeing the world - our human relationship to the sacred, unseen and mythic – and how these beliefs and stories connect us to the landscape and each other.  A sense of the migratory human nature permeates raising questions of beauty, prejudice, identity and direction in a multicultural world. Her work aims to provide a focal point to look behind what is culturally determined and examine the bare, collective human experience. 

 

Jane has a long career in arts and education accompanied by an interest in world philosophies.  She has been a ceramicist since the 1980s. Her work is informed by artefacts, burial sites, idols and symbols. Inspiration comes from ancient built landscapes, architecture and stories.  She uses the language of form to slip outside definition, alluding to ritual and metaphor over function. Jane has traveled widely in Africa and ordained as an Interfaith Minister in 2018.

 

Using clay as medium adds a visceral connection to the natural world. Deeply rooted in human history, the ancient practice of coiling is endlessly versatile.  Rhythmic and slow, it’s a meditative process grounding her in a timeless shared experience that fosters intuitive response. Jane’s long engagement with the process has brought a philosophical relationship with the material; by low-firing her pieces and rejecting glazes she aims to keep the material alive and potent. Her surfaces are the products of labour; lengthy scraping and burnishing before firing and application of paper resist. These enigmatic, contemporary and understated approaches to mark making combine to bring simple vibrancy that bridges time and culture.

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