Now open at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Expressions in Blue is a solo exhibition of monumental sculptural works in porcelain by renowned artist Felicity Aylieff.
Painted in tones of rich cobalt blue oxide using expressive brushstrokes full of movement, the hand-thrown ceramic vessels and stacked monoliths stand up to five-metres high.
Alongside vast porcelain works and a range of smaller pieces indoors – and two towering obelisks outdoors – are photographs and a film that reveal Aylieff’s remarkable making process and its physicality. Also a selection from the artist’s extensive range of fascinating mark-making tools, including giant horsehair brushes used to whip around the vessels and create energetic flicks and splashes.
Felicity Aylieff’s journey towards working at this unprecedented scale began with a visit to China in 2005 when she became captivated by the city of Jingdezhen, known for centuries for its high-quality porcelain production. Over the subsequent two decades, she has spent long periods living and working there each year, developing close working relationships with specialist craftspeople who have accumulated knowledge over generations. Through an enduring process of creative collaboration, Aylieff has forged an ambitious and experimental path combining tradition with innovation across cultures. This has enabled her to push the limits of her work in a notoriously challenging material.
Before their physical making, the monumental pieces on display in Expressions in Blue started life as detailed digital drawings. This is a precise process and a way to counteract some of the risk and uncertainty involved in the production of large-scale ceramics.
Then, using a giant potter’s wheel, a highly skilled team of three or more throwers work together to centre and open up the clay. They brace each other’s arms and bodies, using combined physical strength and harmony of movement to raise the wall of the clay upwards to create Aylieff’s characteristic forms. These range from more conventional vase or jar-like shapes to contemporary organic and undulating stacks.
Painting the vessels is a spontaneous, performative act that engages the artist’s whole body and brings energy to their surfaces, which she sees as canvasses for her artistic expression. Aylieff was drawn to cobalt not only for its luminosity but for its significance in the history of Chinese ceramics. Using the classic blue and white of Chinese porcelain, she synthesises old and new, a reinterpretation that she describes as ‘new Ming’.
Sarah Coulson, Yorkshire Sculpture Park Senior Curator, says: “Being surrounded by Aylieff’s imposing ceramic vessels is an invigorating and moving experience. Their scale and technical ingenuity are breathtaking, and you get lost in the richness and vitality of their surfaces. The artist’s mark-making echoes the energy of the natural world, and her practice expands our understanding of the sculptural potential of ceramics, making the work feel perfectly placed at YSP.”
Image: Felicity Aylieff, Expressions in Blue, 2025. Courtesy Adrian Sassoon, London. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
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