Barry Stedman

Barry Stedman

Barry Stedman is a British artist who works with ceramics, painting, sketching and drawing.  Inspired by natural phenomena, places and emotions, Barry Stedman develops ideas for his ceramic work through drawing, painting and previous firings.  Barry’s vessels serve as canvas for his expressive abstract imagery.  Bold in form, the vessels are given a painterly quality, the building up of marks and washes creates a uniquely painterly surface. 

Working with red earthenware clay, oxides and underglazes, each vessel is put through multiple firings.  After either hand throwing or hand building each form, Barry uses thin washes, wipes back and build up areas of colour before firing again.  He finishes each piece by glazing chosen areas, adding further depth, tone and texture to the form.

Since 2009, Stedman has been a part time assistant at the studio of renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal, after graduating with First class Honours degree in ceramics at Westminster.  Both Barry’s ceramics and paintings have been exhibited in galleries in the UK and abroad, including Ceramic Art London 2017.

He currently creates from his home and workshop in Bedfordshire.