Hannah Christie is an artist who works with clay. She began working in this medium on an art foundation course in 2020-21 where she made moon jars at her kitchen table during the COVID lockdown and fired them in a dustbin in her back garden. This work developed, with access to a kiln once restrictions were lifted, into large-scale ceramic sculptures inspired by her body and how it changed through having many surgeries for scoliosis. 

     Her current practice draws from historical ceramic vessels to create hand-built sculptural pieces that explore themes of frustration and her experience as a neurodivergent person. Her sculptural forms and non-functional vessels, made using hand building techniques, reference historical vessels such as Greek Amphorae as well as her own body, developing further from her original foundation course sculptures. Supposedly ‘finished’ vessels are altered through high energy actions expressing feelings of frustration, leaving them crushed, dented, cracked, or otherwise broken. 

     This perspective of the world as a neurodivergent person and the way in which she interacts with materials and objects underpins her creative practice, manifesting in richly textured surfaces created by the use of reactive slips and glazes in stoneware firing. Christie also works with the raku firing process, putting the work through a process of extreme thermal stress to reflect the stresses and frustrations felt by her and others of her generation, and in living as a neurodivergent person in a world built for neurotypical people. 

‘My work reflects who I am and how I see the world. I feel a deep connection to the clay I work with, and I find my time in the studio is when I am able to be my most authentic self. This allows me to use the materials to explore my identity, and how I interact with the world as someone who is autistic and has ADHD.’ 

     Hannah was born and raised in rural Pembrokeshire. She studied a degree in ceramics at Carmarthen School of Art. Currently she is based in Cardiff, Wales.

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Cymraeg:

      Arlunydd sy’n gweithio gyda clai ydy Hannah Christie. Dechreuwyd gweithio efo’r cyfrwng yma ar ei chwrs sylfaen celf yn 2020-21 lle creuwyd jariau lleuad at ei fwrdd cegin yn ystod y lockdown COVID, a taniwyd nhw mewn bin yn ei ardd cefn. Datblygwyd y gwaith yma, efo mynediad at odyn pan codwyd cyfyngiadau, i cerfluniau cerameg ar raddfa fawr wedi’i ysbrydoli gan ei chorff a sut newidwyd wedi cael nifer o lawdriniaethau ar gyfer scoliosis.

     Tynnwyd ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer ei ymarfer cyfredol o lestri cerameg hanesyddol i greu darnau cerfluniol wedi’u adeiladu gan llaw sy’n archwilio teimladau o rwystredigaeth a’i profiad hi o fod yn berson niwroddivergent. Mae ei ffurfiau cerfluniol a llestri anweithredol, wedi’u greu efo technegau adeiladu gan llaw, wedi’u ysbrydoli gan llestri hanesyddol fel amfforâu Groeg yr Henfyd yn ogystal a’i corff hi, yn datblygu ymhellach o’i waith cwrs sylfaen. Caiff llestri fel y tybiwyd ‘wedi gorffen’ eu newid trwy weithredoedd egniol sy’n cyfleu teimladau o rwystredigaeth, gan eu gadael wedi cracio, wedi tolcio ac wedi torri.

     Mae’r persbectif yma o’r byd fel rhwyun sy’n niwroddivergent a’r fford mae hi’n ymgweithio efo deunyddiau wrth wraidd i’w ymarfer creadigol, yn ymddangos yn arwynebau gweadog a creuwyd gan ddefnyddio slip a gwydreddau adweitheddol a tanio crochenwaith caled. Mae Christie hefyd yn gweitho efo’r broses tanio raku, yn rhoi’r gwaith trwy broses o newidiadau eithafol mewn tymheredd sy’n adlewyrchu’r straen a rwystredigaethau teimlwyd gan hi ac eraill o’i chenhedlaeth, ac yn byw fel person niwroddivergent mewn byd sydd wedi’i hadeiladu ar gyfer pobl niwrotypical.

‘Mae fy ngwaith yn adlewyrchu pwy ydw i a sut rydw i’n gweld y byd. Teimlaf cysylltiad dwfn i’r clai rwy’n gweithio efo, a rwy’n gweld mai’r amser yn fy stiwdio ydy’r amser lle rwyf yn gallu fod y fwyaf fy hunain. Mae hyn yn fy ngalluogi i ddefnyddio’r deunyddiau i archwilio fy hunaniaeth, a sut rwy’n ymweithio efo’r byd fel rhywun sy’n awtistig ac sydd efo ADHD.’

     Ganwyd a chodwyd Hannah yn Sir Benfro. Astudiwyd gradd mewn cerameg yng Ngholeg Celf Caerfyrddin. Ar hyn o bryd, mae hi wedi’i leoli yng Nghaerdydd.