Ceramic Artist Tessa Richardson’s Sculptures are Inventive, Wild, and Whimsical

When ceramicist Tessa Richardson describes her work a “a little wild, very sensual, tactile, and voluptuous,” the reader might think they’re going to see a sculptural update of a Bacchanalian orgy, but they would be wrong. Instead, Richardson’s ceramics are abstract forms inspired by our evolution from stardust to the first life forms.

“My ceramics practice has moved me into an obsession with primordial life, “Richardson said. She has worked with clay since high school, when she was growing up in the beautiful countryside near London. Her love of the outdoors shows in her unusual and fanciful sculptures. “As technology is more stressed and pressured, I don’t feel so overwhelmed when I’m out in nature,” she said.

Nature appears in her sculptures as forms we’re familiar with, such as amoebae and vertebrae, added to more traditional ceramic forms such as a ring or a cone. And covering it all, are glazes with animal print patterns and animal skin textures.

“My work is microcosmic and celestial. It’s primordial seas and emerging bodies,” she said.  Richardson was the featured artist in a show at Contemporary 108 two years ago. Her new work for the TAC exhibit differs in that none of it is functional, such as vases or mugs.

Richardson earned a BA in Art in college in the UK, studying video production and installation rather than ceramics. She moved to the US in 2006 to start a video production career in LA , moved to Tulsa in 2008, and went back to working with clay in 2021.

Her sculptures involve techniques of hand building, throwing on a wheel, and experimenting with surface treatments. Combining these techniques is very advanced work. Add to that the knowledge that it could all explode while firing in the kiln, and you discover that  it is not for the faint of heart. Richardson said she’s experienced a lot of explosions this year, but that’s not slowing her down.

She said her ideas come to her subconsciously. Then when she’s making and playing with the piece, she begins to realize what it’s going to be. “I get so much joy from looking at each piece, having beautiful things around me, and knowing that I created them,” she said.

“My pieces are inventive and with their own personalities. This work is unlike anything you’re going to see in the typical fine art clay world, where there is a lifelike representation a body or object,” she said.

Follow Tessa Richardson

Website: tessarichardson.art

Instagram: @tessarichardsonart