Roos Eisma Ceramics

I saw her work at the Borders Art Fair in Kelso at the weekend.  She'd set-up her space with different sized display platforms, meaning that you could see in and around the pieces.  Her work not being paintings made her art work stand out from the other people showing their work there. 

Roos Eisma is a Dutch artist/ceramicist based in Dundee.  She stands out as a scientist (like Richard Weston), and transited into ceramics.  I find it interesting how both Weston and Eisma started out this way, the fact that they were both scientists and moved into art, using their past knowledge in their  art work. 

Her work is somewhat sculptural and interactive, when I think of ceramics I imagine pots. Her smaller pieces are made to be handled and are uncritical, the inside of them have a hidden plant like thorn interior.  Some of her bigger pieces are functional.  She takes inspiration from the mechanics inside machines, natural structure that reflect the shapes that can be seen in plants.  She also uses the idea of man becoming part of the land, shown in the use of metal work.

What I like about her work is that it has a delicate element to it, even though the interior is trecherous. I like that her work has this, as it represents how plants have to be.  The idea of opposing themes like soft and hard, light and heavy, delicate and strong, is something that she isolates in her pieces.  These are things I'm going to consider when it comes to making my pieces. 

The external surfaces of her work have a really interesting textures to them, with a mixture of rough and smooth surfaces. The use of contrast runs throughout her works.  I looked into how she gets the small bubbles on the outside of her pieces, she uses oxides. I've used copper oxides in my glass work, when its heated it starts to eat into whatever its been  applied to and bubbles. It also gives a blue colour. Eisma adds it to her glaze before putting it in the kiln.  Her colours reflect her subjects, using shades of blues, greens, reds and browns as well as metallics.