Shirley Vauvelle

​

​

material and maker 2026

​

Shirley Vauvelle is an established artist working from her studio near Filey, North Yorkshire. She works full time on ceramic sculpture and paintings.

​

Nature fascinates her, the power and vulnerability, the lines, shapes and colour of it. She has a rich experience of nature in her own garden and uses found plant material within the surface of the clay. Working from an emotional reaction to how her environment changes in different light or seasons, recorded in sketch books that inform later works. She is also influenced by ancient talisman finds, in particular Inuit carvings. She finds within these works there is a strength but also a vulnerability relating to ancient nature, this is a thread that runs through her own collections. 

​

Her aim when building up a new series is not focused on individual forms but looking how they might work as a whole. Either as a whole herd of beasts or a whole group of stacking forms. She looks for elegance of shape, of line, interesting juxtaposition that catches her attention. Working intuitively with colours, focusing on the emotion that comes from them. Mixing her own porcelain slips and glazes, there is a calm nuance to her palette. Balance of form and how adding and subtracting can make it work or not work. Iteration is very necessary on her work, it’s rare that things come quickly. It builds up slowly by adding and then taking away and then adding again. The more she works the more instinctive it becomes, how adding and subtracting a very small amount can make such a difference intrigues her. 

​

Shirley’s education background was textiles and surface decoration. She discovered clay in her mid forties and is mostly self taught in ceramics. Shirley’s work is collected nationally and internationally by private collectors and she shows her work in galleries and ceramic fairs.

​

​

Click the image for details and if you are interested in Shirley Vauvelle's work please enquire below.​​​​​