Persephone Russell

I am a maker & facilitator. Primarily making ceramics I belong to a practice steeped in tradition. Something to which I both revel and rebel.

Q&A

Artist Statement

I make pots & sometimes help other people to make their own. My pots are informed by Ursula Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, in which she posits that the vessel is the fundamental human technology not the weapon – that our stories should not be linear tales of domination but circular modalities of narrative. The ceramics I make exist to tell stories and record a history of interpersonal, echoing the practice of the Mycenaean or Mesopotamian – these pots give fragments of my own private mythos. My work has existed for a time with a variety of collectives and locations including: Generator Projects, IMPACT 12, Volk Gallery, Hen Collective, Newbridge Project, Summerhall. In 2022 some people liked my work enough to give it a John Byrne Award. I continue to facilitate learning program (with or without ceramics) for institutes like Jupiter Artland, Hospitalfield, Forgan Art Center & Dundee Ceramics Workshop.