Phil Jolley

Ceramics

14 Jul

Written By Sam Hinton

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Phil Jolley is a British artist, born in West Yorkshire. He studied at Stoke Polytechnic gaining a BA in Multi Disciplinary Design, specialising in Ceramics. Phil continued to live in Stoke-on-Trent, setting up his first studio in 1980, before moving to Oxford in 1993 to teach ceramics and work on his own collections. Since 2020, Phil has been working out of his studio in North Wales.
Phil’s early work used maps and aerial photography as the starting point for both decoration and form, combined with coloured clay and engobes to build layers and blocks of pattern. Glaze was used sparingly to highlight selected areas and interiors. Overtime glaze has become a more important ingredient in the process.
The suggestion of what might have once been; fragments, archaeological finds, remains and architectural features, greatly influences Phil’s work, as does erosion, decay and demolition; things he often sees every day. He enjoys the idea of reusing found objects and loves hidden detail with layers of both clay and glaze.
Many of the sprigs and stamps that feature on Phil’s vessels are taken from found objects or architectural details. He is continually experimenting with combinations of these clays and surface additions, discovering or collecting new objects to make new sprigs from.
Phil’s stoneware vessel forms are hand-built. Once biscuit fired, oxides and glazes are added to the detail to enhance the textures and pattern. Other glazes are then added to the piece often obscuring the detail which then re-emerges during the glaze firing. A number of glazes are used on each vessel to achieve the variety of colour response. The heavy grogged texture of the main body, alongside the more controlled sprigged decoration and the uneven edge of the rim, offer contrast to the vibrant gold or smooth pastel interior of his pieces.
Phil Jolley is a member of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain. His work is held publicly in the City Museum and Art Gallery, Hanley Stoke-on-Trent, and in private collections in England, the U.S.A. and New Zealand.