Celia Allen

I studied ceramics at Hammersmith College of Art (London). My first studio was in Paris where I lived for several years. My present studio is on Whatlington, East Sussex. I was head of ceramics at St Leonards Mayfield for many years, but now concentrate fully on my own work.

Pieces are either stoneware or raku fired. Raku is a technique involving the removal of the work from the kiln at 1000and placing it in a smoke bin containing sawdust. This carbonises the fired clay body and gives the characteristic crazing marks to the glaze.

My influences are the rural environment in which I live; I have always been drawn to ancient cultures Egyptian artefacts, early Cycladic forms, Etruscan pots and sculptures. The hare has become a recurrent theme in my work and appears in many myths: The moon and the hare occur in folklore in India, China, Africa, Mexico, North America and Europe. I feel that we are inextricably linked with the past while being in the present. Our technology is new but ideas, feelings, our fundamental humanity are ancient. We look at the same seas, the same skies; we breathe the same air, (pollution aside!). We are confronted by the same mysteries. Using clay, that most ancient of materials helps me to come to terms with some of these facts and establishes an atavistic connection between my forebears and myself.