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Celia

Allen

Celia studied ceramics at Hammersmith College of Art (London). Her first studio was in
Paris where she lived for several years. Her current studio is in Whatlington, East Sussex.
She was head of ceramics at St Leonards school for girls in Mayfield, for many years where
she continued to develop the school’s reputation for excellence in the arts with ceramics as a
specialism.

Following her retirement she began working full-time on her own work, which is exhibited
widely in galleries throughout the UK.
Celia’s pieces are either stoneware or raku fired, Raku is a technique involving the removal
of the work from the kiln at 1000c and placing it in a smoke bin containing sawdust. This
carbonises the fired clay and gives it the characteristic crazing marks to the glaze.
Her influences are the rural environment in which she lives; she has always been drawn to
ancient cultures – Egyptian artefacts, early Cycladic forms, Etruscan pots and sculptures.

The hare has become a re recurrent theme in Celia’s work and appears in many myths.

 

Our technology is new but ideas, feelings, our fundamental humanity are ancient. We are
still confronted by the same mysteries. Using clay, that most ancient of materials helps her
come to terms with some of these facts and establishes an atavistic connection between her
forebears and herself.

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