Abi Higgins

Abi is inspired by the landscapes that surround her every day. The colour of the celadon glaze she makes to decorate her high fired work reflects the subtle colours of the moor, sea and sky. Her studio is in a barn attached to the old mill house where she lives in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor. Abi’s work has changed and developed over the last twenty or so years from mainly thrown domestic ware, learned and practiced during the early years of apprenticeship and experimentation, to exploring alternative firing technics and developing expressive individual pieces. 

Recent work brings the unpredictability and freshness of Raku firing, giving each pot an individuality of its own with an exciting surface decoration that can never quite be repeated. Elegant forms that draw the eye, are thrown on the wheel using a porcelain and raku clay mix. They are then glazed with a copper wash and fired in a Raku kiln. The copper wash reveals its colours during the final stage when the pot is transferred to a sawdust reduction bin.

Abi likes to return to domestic ware and has recently been experimenting with different clay. She now uses a rough, dark stoneware clay dug from the Cornish cliffs. It is full of minerals that affect its colour when fired. The minerals in the clay penetrates the glaze turning it to the colour of the Atlantic ocean. The stoneware clay has lots of character and brings the earths elements into the pots.