The vessel is imprinted with patterns and colours reminiscent of moments we experience in nature.
Janene Waudby is a ceramic artist whose work draws profound inspiration from the sea and nature, reflecting her lifetime of global exploration through walking, diving, and sailing, including adventurous journeys around Cape Horn and across the Southern Ocean. In 2016, she transformed her passion into a full-time artistic career, initially settling in the Scottish Highlands before recently relocating to a quiet peninsula in East Suffolk, England. Her ceramic practice is deeply influenced by ancient landscapes marked by water and lichen, seeking simplicity away from urban environments.
Janene's Distinctive Process
Janene creates vessels that are either thrown or hand-built, each piece burnished with a smooth stone before undergoing a meticulous smoke-firing process using wood shavings. This careful firing technique imprints the ceramics with patterns and colors reminiscent of natural phenomena, with Janene attentively judging each firing according to weather conditions and listening to the fire to control its behavior. The resulting unglazed vessels possess a tactile quality, feeling warmer to the touch than conventional glazed ceramics, while quietly evoking textures, colors, and moods found in wild landscapes.
From Sailor to Artist: Waudby's Journey
After spending years sailing worldwide and completing challenging voyages such as a half circumnavigation around Cape Horn, Janene left her desk job in 2015 to pursue art full-time. Her artistic development took a significant turn when her mentor Annette Welch suggested smoke firing—a technique Janene embraced wholeheartedly, rarely using glazes since. She appreciates how smoke-fired surfaces feel softer and warmer than high-fired ceramics, comparing them to skin rather than stone. Working from her studio that overlooks natural beauty, Janene finds constant inspiration in the changing colors of the sea, shifting light, wild storms, and seabirds.
Exhibition Journey and Creative Vision
Janene's artistic career has flourished through numerous exhibitions, including shows at Graystone Gallery in Edinburgh. Her work aims to capture the beauty and spontaneity of nature, particularly coastal environments. By incorporating local natural materials like moss, seaweed, and bracken into her firing process, she creates surfaces that reflect the color, depth, and beautiful imperfection of nature. Each vessel becomes unique, like ancient rocks sculpted by elements—embodying Janene's deep connection to the natural world that continues to inspire her creative practice.