Stephanie Cunningham

‘My work is mostly influenced by animal forms. I have always had animals
around me and the connection I have with them is the essence of my work.
Many years of observing them and the deep love and respect I have for them,
is what I hope to express through the work.
The ceramic forms I make are stylised to emphasize power, elegance and grace
or to convey a familiar holding of the body or movement of the head, perhaps a
comical gesture or a deep sense of peace in a resting form.
The natural world has always inspired me, a love of wild places especially the
West of Scotland where I spent my childhood and West Cornwall for its dramatic
coastline and granite outcrops which themselves suggest ancient animals
emerging from the land. It is here in West Cornwall that I now live and work.
I am self-taught in ceramic sculpture having previously worked in stage
management and theatre prop. making. It was on moving to Cornwall in 1998
that I discovered a love of working in clay.