Based in Newtownards, Co. Down, Alison Hanvey has been working for over 20 years as a production potter, making high quality, hand-made ceramic products. Alison is a graduate with a BA (Hons) in Glass with Ceramics (1992), and her inspiration comes mainly from the forms, colours and textures from her garden and also from the landscape and the remains of ancient buildings. 

Born in Banbridge, Alison was fortunate to be brought up amongst creative people who were always making or mending.  She fell in love with clay during her time at Banbridge Academy, while she studied art. Alison loves the qualities of clay:  ‘the way there is no resistance with it, that there is no need for tools to work it. I have direct expression from hand to clay. A piece of clay shows no hint of what it will become.’

Describing her practice, Alison says: ‘I  simply love the process of throwing; the quiet, steady force required to create a beautiful form out of no form, the way the lines in each pot tell the story of the making. I love the way my two hands work together, first one then the other dominating, positive and negative, form and space.’