About

Polly began working with clay in her early 20s inspired by the traditional potters she encountered while working in Asia, Africa and the Middle East on television documentaries. Her love of ceramics developed under the guidance of inspiring teachers including Akiko Hirai, Richard Phethean, Joanna Howells and Mirka Golden-Hann. Polly moved to Dorset in 2011 where she set up a studio at home in the heart of the Blackmore Vale.

Polly works with porcelain and both throws on the wheel and hand builds. Her pieces are simple and elegant, some of which are organic in shape and nature. The process of making, the physicality of throwing clay and its meditative qualities are as important to her as the finished pieces. She loves that pottery is a timeless craft working essentially with the earth.

Polly creates clean designs with a delicate rhythm and uses natural forms for decoration and texture such as seed heads, which she picks up on wild walks over the fields and coastline of Dorset. 

She makes many of her glazes and uses a soft palette of celadon blue, aqua greens and greys inspired by the expansive skies of Bulbarrow. Her designs and colours are deeply interwoven with the landscape around her. It is important to her that the pots she creates are both a visual pleasure and functional vessels that can be used everyday.

As well as concentrating on her own work, Polly teaches adults with learning difficulties at day centres in Dorset where she enjoys watching her students engaging in the tactile and sensory experience of working with clay.

Polly sells and exhibits in Dorset and further afield.

For more information, contact Polly via email on p.cazalet@btinternet.com