Part of 2024’s London Craft Week programme, the Batsford Gallery will be hosting the Beyond Clay exhibition, showcasing works by four artists made from clay and clay alternatives. The innovative objects in this showcase include vessels made from waste milk, ceramics painted in oil and pastel, clay work informed by contemporary archaeology and lighting inspired by molecular biology. The four artist-makers of Beyond Clay keep one eye on the heritage of the traditional craft-form, recording biology, experience, history and memory in unconventional sculpture that transcends utilitarian tradition.

About the Artists

Anouska Samms’ practice draws on matrilineal memory, women’s bodies, domesticity and the intersection between design and fine art. She uses human hair and red textured clay, with the impression of her fingers imprinted on the surface.

Abid Javed is a ceramic sculptor and designer who creates collectible ‘molecular objects’. The studio practice takes an abstract/surrealist approach to create a sculptural landscape inspired by biology and biological narratives.

Susie Rose Dalton is an Irish artist and ceramicist, living and working in Dundee, Scotland. Her work draws on her background in archaeology to materialize memory and human experience in sculptural form.

Tessa Silva is a British-Brazilian visual artist and designer. Her focal body of work, titled Feminised Protein, uses milk proteins for the handcrafted production of fine objects.