Sarah Dunstan works from the Gaolyard Studios situated in St. Ives, Cornwall. Her slab-built stoneware and porcelain vessels have earned her international renown. After the success of her teaching at Wobage on the 7-day course in 2007, we are delighted she has agreed to return again in 2009.

She writes, “ I collect images, such as the shape of the railing in a hidden doorway in St.Ives or writing on an antique glass bottle. I use my sketchbook to draw and paint these impressions but also as a scrapbook. Feathers, fabric and packaging are glued in next to photos. These photos are fragmented memories of places I’ve visited, a close up detail of a Greek sign perhaps, or advertising on a French café wall.”

“I decorate a rolled out sheet of clay by using various techniques including painting and printing with coloured slips. The pieces are then put together using paper templates to create the final form – similar to the patterns that my mother used as a dressmaker when I was a child. I am fascinated by collections of objects: from the very small and personal –scent bottles, the mundane – sardine tins, to large architectural forms such as Gaudi buildings. Some final pieces are purely ornamental but some tell a story.”