ANNA NOEL Ceramics
Anna Noel attended Bath Academy of Art from 1979 to 1982
where she attained a First Class Honours Degree in Ceramics.
In 1984 she set up a ceramics studio in Wales with her sister
Sarah. Her pieces have been included in many exhibitions in
Wales and England.
"At college I was first drawn to decorative figurative images
from a variety of sources. I became fascinated by the simple
serenity of T'ang Dynasty earthen ware figures and horses and
at the same time came to enjoy the colour and vitality of
fairground and circus animal and folk art, the ethnic art of
pre-Columbian South American, and the masks and animal forms
of North American Indians. Another area of interest for me is
old unsophisticated simply carved and coloured toys, decoy
ducks, weather vanes and stylised boldly shaped and painted
tin toys and puppets. My work is a mish-mash of these
influences."
"I like the soft warmth of the surface of old toys and faded,
old, carved wood and after much experiment with finishing
techniques at college, I decided that Raku offered me a lively
surface which seems most sympathetic to my ceramic images.
With Raku I can achieve an interesting surface without glazing
the whole piece, therefore keeping the image spontaneous and
less worked on."
