Ben Fosker Plate – Blue Crow BFOS3

Ben Fosker Ceramics

Ben Fosker’s work is a contemporary response to the English slipware tradition in ceramics. From his Leicestershire studio Ben makes both functional and figurative earthenware. Inspiration comes from many sources, the results of which are joyful, spontaneous and colourful with recurring motifs of boldly executed birds and animals, his interest in surface decoration, or as Ben calls it, “surface interference”, clearly evident.

Ben works largely in terracotta onto which, when leather hard, he applies white slip. The decorative images are then drawn directly onto the clay using a sgraffito technique which allows the clay to show through after firing. The pieces are hand built or moulded rather than thrown which helps to give the work a distinctive appearance.