Leo Dashwood is a Raku potter whose artistic journey was profoundly influenced by a transformative encounter with a ceramic vessel by John Ward. Drawn to the nuanced beauty of form, texture, and color in ceramics, Dashwood pursued his craft using experimental techniques, particularly focusing on Raku firing methods with a home-made gas kiln. His work explores the intersection of artistic expression and ceramic tradition, emphasizing the subtle imperfections that make ceramic pieces uniquely human.
“Firing Raku is especially troublesome as the wares are fired at the limit of what they can sustain and when removed from the kiln. A percentage of failures is commonplace and philosophically accepted. The reward for engaging with such a perilous and time consuming procedure comes with contemplating the sheer beauty of Raku which, for me, makes all the angst involved in the various stages of it’s creation worthwhile.”
