Janet studied ceramics at West Surrey College of Art and Design, graduating in 1978. In 2017 Janet returned to education to undertake a research-based MA in Ceramics at UCA, Farnham, UK. Since graduating with distinction in 2020 she has exhibited in Stoke-on Trent, London, represented by Ting Ying Gallery, and in Athens, Greece where she now lives and works. Her ceramic practice is informed by a markedly contemporary and politically relevant lens, of thinking about migration, displacement and the implications such kinds of movement has for the individual. Janet’s Sack Forms, ponder on ‘what you can take and what you must/ have to/ are forced to leave behind’’ and her creation of ceramic sticks, harnessing the linguistic and material effects of movement, playfully reference the phrase ‘upping sticks’. Janet’s practice has also evolved towards a broader possession of the unknown.
As in her works within Earthly Bodies, her ceramic sculptures are marked by gaping openings towards emptiness, offering miniature perspectives into abyssal dark space. These pieces might be considered as shaping out and sculpting a tangible presence of absence, while delicately evincing caves, journeys with no clear endings, and even prehistoric marine creatures or extraterrestrial entities.
Her practice revolves around a sensitive and tactile negotiation between the interior and exterior of the clay sculpture. Janet hand builds each piece, pinching and shaping the ribbons of stoneware and porcelain, flat coiling the clay, until the objects begin to suggest their final form. To achieve the scorched rim of her works, often Janet buries and smokes her bisque-fired vessels. The exteriors are coated with a fine particled slip allowing the surface, the record of her making journey, to remain visible.
Janet studied ceramics at West Surrey College of Art and Design, graduating in 1978. In 2017 Janet returned to education to undertake a research-based MA in Ceramics at UCA, Farnham, UK. Since graduating with distinction in 2020 she has exhibited in Stoke-on Trent, London, represented by Ting Ying Gallery, and in Athens, Greece where she now lives and works. Her ceramic practice is informed by a markedly contemporary and politically relevant lens, of thinking about migration, displacement and the implications such kinds of movement has for the individual. Janet’s Sack Forms, ponder on ‘what you can take and what you must/ have to/ are forced to leave behind’’ and her creation of ceramic sticks, harnessing the linguistic and material effects of movement, playfully reference the phrase ‘upping sticks’. Janet’s practice has also evolved towards a broader possession of the unknown.
Janet Ann Lines, Shelter 3, 2020
