Shannon Bartlett-Smith

Clay first became an intrinsic part of Shannon’s life when she discovered, by chance, a hand building workshop at Bristol School of Art. She soon became very passionate about the form and spent every spare moment busy at the wheel, learning the basics and drawn towards the meditative space that it gave her.

Eleven years on, graduating with a BA in Contemporary Crafts at Falmouth University Shannon is still in love with clay as much as ever and despite successfully working in other mediums, such as paper cut work, she decided to pursue clay as her primary medium.

Shannon has made Cornwall her creative home and completed an 18-month internship at the Leach Pottery, where she was able to fully immerse herself into the studio pottery way of life and learn the Japanese ideologies that the Leach prides itself on. These influences continue to inspire her practice today; in particular Japanese brushwork which she has developed a real passion for, as it enables her to also incorporate the design elements that she enjoyed through her paper-cut work.

Shannon taught and ran courses at the Leach Pottery, and now continues to do this in her own studios at Bosulval, Cornwall. Since 2021 Shannon has been a successful independent business owner. The pots she makes are honest and long lasting, a balance between function and form: not only beautiful to look at but a pleasure to use too. She embraces the fact that each item is uniquely handmade, for example a maker’s mark in the form of a finger outline, using her hands rather than tools to create as much of the pot as she can, allowing the pot to tell a story of its creation.

Where possible Shannon uses sustainable ways to create her work, such as firing to cooler temperatures, using clean energy to power her kiln and ensuring the clay she works with uses a less invasive mining process. In this way she hopes that her work will be treasured for generations to come.