POPPY BH
The majority of this work was made at the farm where I grew up in Ireland. I have a beautiful, messy studio over there and had a pretty mad childhood growing up surrounded by lots of animals and my five siblings. Our house was chaotic, filled with stuff and every piece of furniture told a story. We were always messing and I do think that is where my playful approach to making comes from…I’m looking backwards I guess.
“I keep small sketchbooks and I find myself constantly looking back through them, developing ideas and taking notes. I also look at other artist’s work; I love Claus Oldenburg and his playful sculptures as well as more classical painters for their use of colour and composition, like Gaugain or Van Gogh.”
My ideas tend to start with small, loose pen sketches that play with functional ceramic forms or act as inspiration for sculptural reliefs and illustrative sgraffito work on clay.
I take inspiration from places and people: their stories, Ireland, France, people I meet in London.
I primarily use porcelain clay with flax in it but some of these pieces are made with white stoneware. I really like the white result of porcelain and the flax allows the clay to stretch into finer shapes so it is good for the more sculptural elements of my work. It’s also amazing for colour as it’s body is so white.
I am always pushing myself to learn new techniques and over summer, I played around with stains in an attempt to translate the rich colours in my drawings across to my ceramics.
Poppy BH is an illustrator based between London and her family home in Ireland. Working with pens and pastels, she makes small scale drawings which act as starting points for larger ornamental and functional ceramic sculptures. Having grown up in a chaotic, crazy household with her many siblings and animals, she is often drawn to strong colours and bold playful linework, which combine to evoke a simple, yet happy sense of naivety.
