about
Instagram - @francesmarr
Frances makes sculptural works that celebrate our landscapes and are rooted in the environment.
She is drawn to found objects where the colours, textures and forms all play their part, but also the awareness of time, of change and decay, and the continuing life of materials that may have fallen out of human use.
With these found fragments as her starting point, Frances uses clay to create her tactile sculptural pieces, which are fired to 1000°c before being barrel fired with sawdust and organic material. The slow hand building technique she uses, allows her time and space for improvisation, but it is the chance working of carbon on the surfaces of her sculptural works that Frances exploits to create their timeless quality.
Frances has a background in graphic design and printmaking. After a decade living and working in Brittany, Frances now lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She took up ceramics in 2005 and has exhibited widely across the South of England and in Cumbria.
For further information, please contact Frances here
Member of the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2025
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
Work at New Ashgate Gallery - May/June
Resonance - Marks of Memory, Person and Place - Oxmarket Contemporary
2024
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
The Art of making - Sir Harold Hillier Gardens with the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2023
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
Precarious - A collaboration with Carolyn Marr at the RSPB Gallery, Geltsdale Nature Reserve, Cumbria
2022
Work of the Week - New Art Centre, Roche Court
Crafted - Willis Museum Basingstoke
Messums Creative - Summer smoke firing course
2021
Explore making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - Salisbury Arts Centre
Messums Creative - Summer smoke firing course
2020
Experiment! - Arts Council funded project with Carolyn Marr and Lucia Tambini at Florence Arts Centre, Cumbria
2019
Contemporary Ceramics Fair - The Hepworth Wakefield
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2018
Heart, Head and Hand - Salisbury Arts Centre
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - Front Room, Brampton, Cumbria
Rural - Studio 53
2017
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - with Carolyn Marr RSPB Gallery Geltsdale Nature Reserve, Cumbria
Ground 4 - Florence Arts Centre, Cumbria
Whitchurch Silk Mill - with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Hand Building & Smoke-fired Ceramics course - The Moulin, Bergerac
2016
Romsey Abbey and Rum's Eg - Dissolution & Revolution
Studio 53 - North Meets South
2015
Salisbury Arts Centre Open Ceramic Exhibition
Brighton Open House - with Sylph Baier
Rum's Eg - Featured 3D Artist, Romsey
Work at Roche Court Educational Trust, New Art Centre
smoke fired work is unglazed and for decorative use
Frances makes sculptural works that celebrate our landscapes and are rooted in the environment.
She is drawn to found objects where the colours, textures and forms all play their part, but also the awareness of time, of change and decay, and the continuing life of materials that may have fallen out of human use.
With these found fragments as her starting point, Frances uses clay to create her tactile sculptural pieces, which are fired to 1000°c before being barrel fired with sawdust and organic material. The slow hand building technique she uses, allows her time and space for improvisation, but it is the chance working of carbon on the surfaces of her sculptural works that Frances exploits to create their timeless quality.
Frances has a background in graphic design and printmaking. After a decade living and working in Brittany, Frances now lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She took up ceramics in 2005 and has exhibited widely across the South of England and in Cumbria.
For further information, please contact Frances here
Member of the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2025
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
Work at New Ashgate Gallery - May/June
Resonance - Marks of Memory, Person and Place - Oxmarket Contemporary
2024
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
The Art of making - Sir Harold Hillier Gardens with the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2023
New Art Centre - The Artist's House
Precarious - A collaboration with Carolyn Marr at the RSPB Gallery, Geltsdale Nature Reserve, Cumbria
2022
Work of the Week - New Art Centre, Roche Court
Crafted - Willis Museum Basingstoke
Messums Creative - Summer smoke firing course
2021
Explore making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - Salisbury Arts Centre
Messums Creative - Summer smoke firing course
2020
Experiment! - Arts Council funded project with Carolyn Marr and Lucia Tambini at Florence Arts Centre, Cumbria
2019
Contemporary Ceramics Fair - The Hepworth Wakefield
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
2018
Heart, Head and Hand - Salisbury Arts Centre
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - Front Room, Brampton, Cumbria
Rural - Studio 53
2017
Explore Making - Stockbridge with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Linescapes - with Carolyn Marr RSPB Gallery Geltsdale Nature Reserve, Cumbria
Ground 4 - Florence Arts Centre, Cumbria
Whitchurch Silk Mill - with Hampshire & Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen
Hand Building & Smoke-fired Ceramics course - The Moulin, Bergerac
2016
Romsey Abbey and Rum's Eg - Dissolution & Revolution
Studio 53 - North Meets South
2015
Salisbury Arts Centre Open Ceramic Exhibition
Brighton Open House - with Sylph Baier
Rum's Eg - Featured 3D Artist, Romsey
Work at Roche Court Educational Trust, New Art Centre
smoke fired work is unglazed and for decorative use