Creating with the elements, inspired by the Cornish landscape.
About
Shayla is a Canadian- Thai artist living in Cornwall, UK on her husband’s ancestral farmland. Influenced by her Asian roots, and bicultural upbringing, she explores the relationship between identity and landscape. She graduated with honours from Alberta University of the Arts, in Canada, and completed part of her degree at Falmouth University, in the U.K. Shayla draws on lessons from an array of mediums such as drawing, painting and performance. The culmination of exploration has been integrated in the grounding practice of ceramics. Creating on the potter’s wheel or hand building her vessels, Shayla derives inspiration from the natural world. Views of the Camel Estuary and pastoral scenes can be seen from her summer house studio. Shayla collects elements from the land, to create her vessels.
Process
The main clay body is a personal blend, reclaimed, and often sourced from Dobles, St Agnes, Cornwall
Wild clay found on the banks of a stream running accross the farmland.
Photography by Drew Shearwood
Often the elements of the land are incorporated in the work. Wild clay found on farmland, ashes, harvested rain water, all form staples of the process. Experimenting with milk produced from the dairy herd is used to seal pots, an ancient method.
Found objects gathered from nature such barely stalks, wild grasses and found feathers are created to make brushes. Collected stones and seashells are used for hand building, mark making, and shaping.
Shayla often works on small series, focussing on particular themes. Each vessel is its own unique expression. Rarely the same as another.
