Kayn creates slip cast decorative ceramic wares with an emphasis on vivid contrasting colour and texture. They employ a variety of clays, glazes and firing techniques with found objects that are appropriated and reassembled. Their reduction glazes have a depth and intensity of colour.
Their practice is informed by a sense of narrative and mythology, and draws on allegories of death and legend. They examines concepts of divergence and contrast in fables and folklore. They are intrigued by contrasts, and the closeness of concepts seen as far apart, such as; life and death, light and dark , known and unknown, real and imaginary, memory and mindfulness. |
Ethos
Give yourself joy in your surroundings.
Hand crafted Alternative Ceramic Art for the home.
Art is expression. Express yourself. Love your Space.
Hand crafted Alternative Ceramic Art for the home.
Art is expression. Express yourself. Love your Space.
Hybrid Sea Creatures
Hybrids were born out of nautical tales of mythical creatures, narratives of creatures created from the imagination, mermaids and sirens, kraken and hippocamps, travelling shows with fantastical creations such as the fiji-mermaid, sewn from fragments of separate animals (which in turn led to people being suspicious of unusual real animals like the platypus). I have created creatures from fragments of others, with anthropomorphic elements, highlighting the unknown life and the unexplored world of the under the sea landscape. Could these creatures exist, unknown, in the depths of the ocean ? Ceramic Hybrid Sea Creatures are made from a variety of animal parts, which I have cast from life, including Octopus, Cuttlefish, Crab and Sea Urchins, as well as created pieces to suit the scale of my work such as turtle and sea horse. These are mixed with casts of doll parts, which helps create a more anthropomorphic hybrid. I have created creatures from fragments of others, with anthropomorphic elements, highlighting the unknown life and the unexplored world of the under the sea landscape. Could these creatures exist, unknown, in the depths of the ocean ? |
Skulls
Images of skulls have been used as a memento mori (a reminder of one’s own mortality) for hundreds of years, images encouraged people to live piously, when life was seen as preparation for the afterlife. Skulls remain a symbol of death, becoming synonymous with alternative culture, but with the individual meaning of the skull being more personal; an intent to cheat death, to take risks, a remembrance of lost loved ones, as an acceptance of life and death working in harmony, or as a statement to live life to the fullest and most vibrant. |
Thrown Animals
Frames and Vessels
Jewellery
Elemental Forms
Smoke fired forms
Shells
A range of sculptures based on seashells using the equiangular spiral. These vessels were slab built using a complicated set of templates that I created. This was a move towards a much more structured approach to planning designing and building using maths and measurements.