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