Featured artist: Cyan Clayworks

In May I visited Fiona Thompson and Chris Donnelly, who together run Cyan Clayworks, a ceramics studio and workshop space at The Shore in Leith. If you love ceramics and find yourself in the Leith area, Cyan Clayworks provide adult ceramics courses and tuition, whilst Fiona and Chris are ceramic artists in their own rights and regularly sell and exhibit their work. Between them, they hold a wealth of knowledge about ceramic making, and not so long ago they moved into a new studio in a busy area, with a window quite literally onto the Leith community.

As with the other artists I've featured in this series, I wanted to give space to the artists and their work in their own words, illustrated by some of the scenes I observed in their studio. The following texts were written by Fiona and Chris in response to my questions. There are also some upcoming exhibitions featuring their work in Edinburgh and further afield, with info at the end of this post.

First things first, grab a coffee...

How did Cyan Clayworks come into being?

CC: "We set up Cyan Clayworks in 2012. Previously we had both worked independently in a variety of locations and wanted to establish a studio where we could run courses and make our own work. It's a Community Interest Company; the social enterprise seemed the best fit for the studio. It started out at Beaverhall Studios, a large group studio, and after the building was sold for redevelopment and the studios closed, we found a new location in Leith in 2023."

"Over the years at Beaverhall, we ran courses and workshops, taught university students and artists, worked on commissions, offered work placements, started a membership and made and exhibited our own work. The self-contained studio in the historic dock area Leith has a small shop front, space for students and members, and our own workspace."

Fiona Thompson

"I studied ceramics at Edinburgh College of Art in the early 1990s; at that time it was an inspiring place to study, with room to experiment with ideas and materials in a supportive environment. I’d been focused on creativity, always drawing and making things, since an early age, and discovered clay at school. Ceramics requires a high level of persistence and can be both challenging and rewarding; there is always something new to explore in this medium. I enjoy its tactile qualities and ability to shift between the categories of both craft and art, and the fact that other creative disciplines such as printmaking can be incorporated."

https://fionathompsonceramics.co.uk/

Chris Donnelly

"I grew up in Canada and studied ceramics in Calgary and Nova Scotia. I moved to the UK in 2002. Predominantly a tableware maker, my pots are made both on the wheel and sometimes with a jigger-jolley machine (a kind of mechanized throwing or slip cast). More sculptural pieces have recently been developed, made from cast composite forms. I set a project brief for myself through idea generating, and use the appropriate making methods to achieve the objects."

https://chrisdonnellyceramics.co.uk/

CC: "Moving the studio was a big undertaking, and while things were getting set up again we had to put our own practice on hold for several months. A change of location always has some impact on your practice. So it's a little early to say how much if anything has changed, but we are both settled into the new space now."

How do you spend your time at your studio?

CC: "The courses we run include short one-off taster sessions, one-day workshops and longer weekly courses. They are all aimed at adult learners, both complete beginners and those with some experience. We often also work with other artists who want to focus on professional development or learning about a new discipline. We cover different kinds of hand-building, surface decoration, wheel-throwing, and sometimes more specialist things. A typical week would be divided up between teaching, our membership, and our own time plus technician and admin work and selling work. Each day is usually divided into three blocks of time."

CC: "Mondays are allocated to either our own work in the studio, a day off or working at home on admin/drawing etc. Tues to Thurs are the busiest days, and when we have evening sessions scheduled for either courses or membership. From Tues- Sat we have our members in, usually about 3 sessions per week, and then 2 or 3 courses running. Friday afternoons are when we open the shop front to the public and some Saturdays. During the times when there is no one in, we can focus on our own work, and also maybe mixing glazes or slips, recycling the clay, cleaning and prep work for courses. During the membership sessions, we’re usually carrying out more ‘technician’ roles: recycling clay, prepping for courses, loading and unloading kilns, glazing student work, assisting members as needed, plus admin and promotion of courses. If it's a quiet enough session we may do some of our own work, or we may focus on updating websites, documenting work, updating statements/CVs, planning, funding applications, etc."

Where do you look for ideas?

CC: "This is a varied and often not very straightforward topic. For both of us, ideas come from a foundation of art school training, years of creative practice, and life experiences, filtered through our own perspectives. There are specific influences and more general ones."

Fiona: "It includes travel, formal research into tourism, looking at historical/contemporary ceramics and art plus film and music, museum collections and display. Broader underlying themes often focus on nostalgia, memory and the ‘language’ of ceramics."

Chris: "The finished ceramics I make differ from project to project, but there are underlying roots of 16th-century Japanese ceramics, modern design, and the embrace of digital making."

What are the biggest challenges to working as an artist today?

CC: "The biggest challenges are often financial. Having a varied and unpredictable income. Having enough time and resources to keep your practice going. Juggling time for your own work with other work commitments and having the tenacity to keep moving forward."

Do you have any advice for anyone at an early stage of developing their craft and art?

CC: "Make sure what you create is what you want to do and has a personal language, not what others want. You can’t force a style or ‘language’ however, it just has to evolve. Persistence is needed, keeping your skills going, learning new things and being adaptable and flexible. Carving out time for your practice, and accepting that sometimes things don’t work how you expected."

Huge thanks to Fiona and Chris for allowing me to document a tiny slice of their studio process. While I love looking at, holding and using ceramics, I know very little about how they are produced. That only became even clearer as I listened to Fiona and Chris talking about their work; the tip of the iceberg of their many combined years of training and practice. They talk about their work with no great pretence, which makes it accessible for someone new to studying or working with clay, like many of the students who have learned from Fiona and Chris through their workshops over the years. I know at least one person who has returned to their studio several times to try different aspects of ceramics making and highly recommends their tuition. They also make beautiful ceramic pieces themselves which you can buy from their studio in Leith.

Finally, their work will be featured in the following exhibitions and events in Edinburgh and Fife later this year. Be sure to check them out if you find yourself in the area:

Ceramics at the Shore - Edinburgh Fringe exhibition (at the Cyan Clayworks studio in Leith):
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ceramics-at-the-shore
August 2024 (check website for opening times)

Art Walk Porty Festival 2024: 'Undercurrent' (Portobello):
https://www.artwalkporty.co.uk/
As guest exhibitors with artist Jude Nixon, part of the Art Houses event
7th - 15th September 2024

Fiona: Winter exhibition at Tatha Gallery (Newport on Tay)
https://www.tathagallery.com/
23rd November - 21st December 2024