Travis Bell

The meditative stupas – separate pieces placed precariously on top of one another – have been replaced. Instead, Travis unveils works leaning dangerously to one side in Celebrating Ceramics: “Clay and balance are always referenced in my work,” Travis tells us. “But I stretch the boundaries in my latest art, where tension and excitement is created through the feeling that each piece is unsafe, and could break or shatter at any moment.”

Using the process called ‘turning’, a high- powered ceramic lathe carves away a section of base, leaving the ‘monolithic type structure’ teetering, as if about to fall. In Three Blind Mice a trio of white clay pots tilt dangerously in differing directions. Travis chose the name because they reminded him of the three little characters “always leaning over their walking sticks.”  In The Michelin Mystery ribbons of tightly coiled clay seemingly defy gravity, while circular clay forms appear to spin around each other in the duo Solar and Luna.

A familiar hallmark of Travis is the absence of glaze. It covers the clay, which is rendered to the role of ‘mere canvas’. He wants this natural material unadorned and untouched leaving its unique character and colour the star: “In all my art I want the beauty of clay to shine through.”