Carol McNicoll (born 1943) is one of the most dynamic of British slipcasters, making original vividly decorated forms that have created a whole new ceramic repertoire for shelf and dining table. Like its maker her work is entirely lacking in self importance or preciosity, showing a delight in the accumulated bric-a-brac of the home, of the sophistication of European pottery as well as the more ordinary objects that have filled our domestic lives. But her flamboyant, lively and humorous pieces, often figurative, the surfaces heavily illustrated, can allude to serious ideas, themes and issues.
McNicoll had a broad visual training in Solihull, at Leeds Polytechnic and the RCA, giving her a very rounded knowledge of design, fashion and textiles as well as clay. This has made her essentially celebratory vision all encompassing, and any McNicoll retrospective would need to take account of her richly multi-disciplinary nature. She lives and works in London.
David Whiting |
