Merbelle

MerbelleThis Merbelle is created from traditional Creamware ceramic casts of a Victorian penny Charlotte doll mudlarkd on the Thames foreshore and hand crafted in Oxford using a traditional press moulding technique that allows for casts of discarded ephemera additions, creating a new narrative. Mounted upon casts of discarded vintage ephemera each Merbelle figurine is unique. In modern society, we buy so much but value so little. My ceramics aim to re

This Merbelle is created from traditional Creamware ceramic casts of a Victorian penny ‘Charlotte doll’ mudlark’d on the Thames foreshore and hand-crafted in Oxford using a traditional press-moulding technique that allows for casts of discarded ephemera additions, creating a new narrative. Mounted upon casts of discarded vintage ephemera each Merbelle figurine is unique.

“In modern society, we buy so much but value so little. My ceramics aim to re-evaluate and challenge this notion.”

Dimensions: 12 x 5 x 8 cm.

The discarded object; whether it be a vintage domestic item, a mudlark’d find, even a piece of plastic packaging are all relevant to Rose’s creative process: to make comment on mass consumerism within contemporary society. The ‘Curious Babes’ are created from a cast of a ‘Frozen Charlotte’ Victorian doll mudlark’d from the Thames and mounted upon casts of discarded vintage ephemera. Rose has been involved with ceramics since 1998, attaining a first-class B.A. (hons) in 2008 and selected for the Craft Potters’ Association in 2010. In addition to her studio work in East Oxford, she runs pottery courses and workshops for Sunningwell School of Art and West Dean College. Rose has work in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery and Museum Leamington Spa, The Grimmerhus Museum, Denmark; The International Ceramics Research Centre, Denmark; Cannon Hall Museum, Barnsley; and the Ken Stradling Study Collection Bristol.