Rosie McLachlan (b. 1982) received her MFA from Newcastle University, and a BA in Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, during which time she also studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Her work has been exhibited by Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (UK), Arusha Gallery (UK) and Cavin Morris Gallery (NYC), amongst others.
McLachlan’s ceramic works are wood fired over 4 days and nights in an anagama kiln, an ancient type of pottery kiln brought to Japan from China via Korea in the 5th century. The long firing process is a devotional act, and the resulting sculptural works, transformed by heat, flame and ash accretions, have an elemental, totem-like quality.
Author and curator Stephen Ellcock writes, Rosie’s work references ancient traditions of funerary art, drawing upon her in-depth research into comparative mythology and pan-global cosmologies. At first glance these ceramics may appear to be familiar-looking souvenirs of a mythic, imperfect past, objects created with some inexplicable ritual purpose in mind, but the closer one looks the more alien and disconcerting the works appear, resembling nothing less than relics of a civilisation not yet born. Fieldwork for future archaeology.
Works for sale can be found at Arusha Gallery (UK) www.arushagallery.com, Cavin Morris Gallery (NYC) www.cavinmorris.com, and Oeil de KO (Paris) www.oeildeko.com
Press
Essay: Stephen Ellcock On Hydriotaphia
Essay: Stephen Jenkinson On Hydriotaphia
Exhibitions
Solo
Hydriotaphia, Arusha Gallery, London (February - March 2024)
Axis Mundi, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh (December 2022 - January 2023)
Group
Buried, Ohsh Projects, London (March - April 2024)
Ud Rocashaas, Hweg Gallery, Cornwall (February - March 2024)
Neo-Gothic, Ohsh Projects, London (July - August 2023)
Wood Fired Exhibition, Clay College, Stoke (June - July 2023)
Primeval, Unit 1 Gallery, London (February 2023)
Voices from an Animist Earth, Cavin Morris Gallery, NYC (September - November 2022)
Spirit Within, BWG, Ben Oakley Gallery, London (August 2022)
Conjure, Arusha Gallery, Bruton (May - June 2022)
Winter Exhibition, Thrown Contemporary (January - February 2021)
Telling the Bees, Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick Upon Tweed (July – August 2021)
Stay at Home, Maternal Art Gallery, online (June 2020)
Awards
Arts Council DYCP Award, 2023
Craft Potters Association Development Fund, 2024