About
Abigail Schama chose to create vessels because of their connection to domesticity, as commonplace objects like bowls, jugs, or vases carry immediate associations that she enjoys playing with. Her starting point is familiarity. You can only challenge established forms if you start with what people know. Comfort is the opposite of art.
She first trained as a fine art painter, a discipline that continues to inspire her. Within her work, a perfect skin feels flat. Instead, she tries to eke out something, as though she were painting it, approaching the clay as she did the canvas, uncovering rather than covering.
She places a lot of importance on finding truth in her expression, which is linked to her interest in psychoanalysis. She is especially interested in the truths of interpersonal interactions and how this translates to making. She will often make counter-pieces to her pots, representing the psychoanalytic distinction between two parts of a person, the exterior and the interior. In these doubles, one pot may present an individual’s outward-facing personality, whilst the other imagines a hidden interior.
