Bogs of Ballydangan inspire award-winning ceramicist
Chloe Lennon finds inspiration to create stunning ceramic pieces very close to home, in the bogs of Ballydangan.
Like many others, the 27-year-old spent much of lockdown exploring her local area, walking her dog in the bogs near her home in Clonbulia, and seeing something new in the very familiar.
Now, the resulting eye-catching sculptural work has been recognised by the Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) with the prestigious Overall Emerging Maker Award as part of the Future Makers programme. The programme, which aims to bring emerging artists to enterprise, is one of the largest prize-funded design and craft awards in Europe.
“It was a bit of a surprise. I had hoped for a supporting award but I didn't expect the overall, so it's quite a big thing,” a thrilled Chloe told the Westmeath Independent following last Wednesday's win. Coming with prize money of €3,500, the top award will allow the South Roscommon ceramicist to buy a generator so she can operate a bigger kiln in her studio. It also qualifies her to compete in the upcoming RDS Craft Awards, where five €10,000 prizes are up for grabs.
“I have a small kiln running, I did buy a bigger kiln but it needs three-phase electricity to run which is not available here, so the generator will run that. It will allow me to do bigger work. The sculptural objects are based off soils and the textures of the bog where I live,” says Chloe, who adds that moss, lichens and the crumbling peat soils provide ample inspiration.
Having garnered a BA in Ceramics from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin back in 2016, she later spent four years working and managing a ceramic studio in London with artist Valeria Nascimento. But with rising rents in the UK capital, Chloe decided it was time to head for home and strike out on her own in December of 2020.
Now working full-time from a cabin studio in the garden of her family home, Chloe has set up her own business and website (chloelennon.com) concentrating on two strands of work – the sculptural bespoke pieces – and the more accessible range of porcelain tumblers and decanters - which start from just €23, which combine some of the bog-inspired elements of her bigger work.
“I really love textures and I'm very into the concept of erosion, deconstruction and the reformation that happens in nature, in the cycles of the seasons,” remarks Chloe, whose work uses death and rebirth in nature and the textures of the every changing local landscape.
Her winning piece entitled 'Resurgence' (pictured above) is based on the soils and lichen around the bog, and interestingly, it was sold to a buyer in London just before it was shortlisted. Its new owner is delighted to now learn that it's an award-winner.
Asked why she opted for ceramics, the artists says when she went to college, she thought painting would be her discipline, but she believes the fact her father Damian is a woodworker, and her mother Carla is very into interior design meant she was always working with her hands. Therefore, the tactile nature of ceramics appealed because you don't really need anything else but your bare hands and clay.
A past student of Athlone Community College where art was a big passion, and Ardkeenan NS, Chloe Lennon's name joins a who's who of previous winners of the Overall Emerging Maker Award, people of the calibre of leather-maker Úna Burke, whose work has been worn by Lady Gaga and Madonna, furniture designer Alan Meredith and fashion designer Sorcha O'Raghallaigh, who has dressed Beyoncé and Kate Moss among others.
A fantastic acknowledgement of her work, Chloe is now hopeful the award will bring many more opportunities. For now, though, she's concentrating on making new work, working with galleries in the UK and Ireland, and growing her online shop.
Check out chloelennon.com or chloelennonceramics on Instagram.