Artist Biography

Emily Stapleton-Jefferis graduated in 2018 with an MA in Ceramics and Glass from The Royal College of Art, where she was awarded The Griffin Scholarship and The Eduardo Paolozzi Travel Award. Since graduating Emily has been developing her sculptural practice focusing on ceramics, and her socially engaged practice where she works across many mediums with a wide range of people.

Emily has completed a number of artist residencies, most recently at St George’s Hospital in London, as well as at Camden Arts Centre, Hogchester Arts, and The Leonora Carrington Museum in Mexico. 

Emily has exhibited her work alongside fellow artists in a range of venues in the UK and abroad including at the British Ceramics Biennale in Stoke-on-Trent, at MK Calling in Milton Keynes Gallery and at Kew Gardens.

Her work is held in both private and museum collections.

Artist Statement

I work between drawing and making, with a particular focus on the use of ceramics. I employ a feedback loop of drawings informing sculptures, sculptures informing new drawings and new drawings informing new sculptures, with this evolutionary approach echoing my biological subject matter.

My sculptural work primarily involves clay which I am drawn to as a result of its plasticity, tactility and intimacy within our daily lives, along with the alchemical processes by which it becomes ceramics.

Along with the human body I look to inspiration from the botanical and geological, zooming in on the overlooked or unseen, extracting the wonder, beauty and strangeness that exists just out of sight. I investigate the relationships between the microscopic and macroscopic, drawing on the real landscapes around us and the science-fiction worlds existing within our imaginations. My work is simultaneously familiar and alien. By recontextualising the macro and micro of the natural world I aim to provide an escape from the anthropocentric perspective humans are locked within. I hope this transformation of the viewer carries an ecological message of kinship with even the strangest incarnations of life.

Alongside my personal practice I regularly deliver workshops and art projects where I work with a wide range of people. I am passionate about the importance of art and creativity being accessible to all, and the positive impact of this on people’s lives. I have delivered sessions in community, gallery, museum and further education settings. Often these workshops have a focus on ceramics or the environment, or they are participant led- with participants driving the subject matter or material.

I am a founding member of Cultivate Artists Studio, a collective of sculptural ceramic artists based in East London.

Education

2022-2023
Associate Artist
Open School East, Margate
2022
Level 3 Award in Education and Training
CTC Teaching
2016 - 2018
MA Ceramics and Glass
The Royal College of Art (Recipient of The Griffin Scholarship), London
2011 - 2014
BA Decorative Arts 1st Class Honors
Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham
2010 - 2011
Art and Design Foundation Diploma
Oxford Brookes University, Oxford

Selected Solo/Duo Exhibitions

2024
Littoral: A Ceramic Installation with Caroline Fisher Projects, The Potter's Arms, Norwich, UK
2022
Autres Mondes, Atelier creatifs, Muraz, Switzerland
2019
-cosm, The Leonora Carrington Museum, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
The Fungi Room, Fat Fox Mushrooms, London
Fractalia Festival, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London
MK Calling, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes
2023
Intimacy with the other, Light the Way Festival, London
We Danced Until There Was Nothing Left, Open School East, Margate
Resident Artists Showcase, Arts St Georges, St George's Hospital, London
Studio Practice, MK Gallery Project Space, Milton Keynes
Two for Joy, San Mei Gallery, London
2022
Destructive Mollusc, Haze collective at Staffordshire Street Studios, London
The Amber Room, Reference Point Library, London
The Wild Collective, Thrown Gallery at Omved Gardens, London
Prototaxities, Leytonstone Arts Trail, Omved Gardens and Kew Gardens, London
2021
Assemble, Leytonstone Arts Trail, Leytonstone, London
Molten Forest, Proyector Video Festival, Madrid
Leaves of the Eocene, PackArt Open exhibition, The Packington Housing Estate, London
Ash, Ember, Flame, The Japanese Embassy, London
Culford studios open studio, London
2020
Winter Glow: Four emerging Ceramic makers, Caroline Fischer Projects, Online
Model Village, Hot Desque at The Swiss Church, London
2019
Fresh, The British Ceramics Biennale, Stoke-on-Trent
People who Pot, Modern Design Review Gallery, London
We can only have fun on certain days, Warbling Collective x Stour Space, Tower Hamlets Road, London
The Sculpture Garden, Cookham Festival, Berkshire
Metamorphosis, Cluster Crafts, Ugly Duck London
2018
Shaping the Future, The Brohan Museum, Berlin, Germany
Materialise, The home of Preston Fitzgerald, London
Shaping the Future, National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Touchscape, The Royal College of Art, London

Selected Residencies

2023
Arts St Georges, St Georges Hospital, London
2021
Moongazing Residency, The Icing Room, Online
Pack Art Research Residency, The Packington Housing Estate, London
2020
Family Artist in Residence, Camden Arts Centre, London
2019
Hogchester Arts, Dorset
The Leonora Carrington Museum, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
2015
Kunstlerhaus Stadttopferei Neumünster, Germany

Selected Workshops/Teaching

2023 - present
Rosetta Arts, London
Ceramics tutor for learners studying  Award Level 1 NCFE Creative Craft
The Royal Academy, London
Make and Connect Associate Artist
2022 - present
Westminster Adult Education Service, London
Ceramics tutor
Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes
Associate Artist for Art and Us
2022
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Make it Clay Associate Artist
2021 - present
The Nest, the Fostering Network, Online
Associate Artist
2021- 2022
Bow Community Centre, London
Ceramics tutor for ESOL learners
2020 - present
Birch Hotel, Cheshunt
Ceramics tutor
2019 - present
Workshop 305, London
Art, Mosaic and Ceramics tutor for adults with learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities
2019
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Summer Families programme Education Artist
2018 - 2020
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Door to Design Education Artist
The Crafts Council, London
Make Your Future Education Artist
2017 - 2020
Camden Arts Centre
Half term Art and Ceramic Courses and Weekly Ceramic courses for children and young people Education Artist
2016 - 2017
Camden Arts Centre, London
Youth Collective Education Assistant
Portrait Emily Stapleton-Jefferis