Georgina Warne is a ceramicist and printmaker, often combining both practices and printing directly on to the clay, as well as hand painting.
An upbringing on a Suffolk smallholding first kindled Georgina’s interest in the natural world, a theme which continued to fascinate her as she undertook her BA and MA under the eminent ceramicists Mick Casson, Alan Barrett- Danes, and Geoffrey Swindell. This was followed by a Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship spent in Papua New Guinea in 1994, which allowed her to further her study of the universal relationship between art and nature, and to examine the local use of natural materials and pigments.
Georgina draws inspiration from the world of folklore and folk songs, as well as the poetry of Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin, John Clare, and Ted Hughes. In 2007 she was invited to illustrate Richard Mabey’s limited edition publication Whistling in the Dark - In Pursuit of the Nightingale with 21 sepia drawings and etchings. Her practise as a printmaker also informs her sculptures, as she prints and hand-colours the surface of her works with her delightful and idiosyncratic designs. Each work conveys a unique narrative or message that is frequently related to conservation.
Alongside her interest in the motifs of folk art, Georgina is inspired by the style and technique of 10th and 11th-century Iranian lustred ceramics, and Italian and Spanish majolica ware. She works with stoneware clays of the highest possible quality, including Grogged White and T Material. Each sculpture is formed over an armature. Once complete, but still damp, Georgina mono-prints her designs on the surface using a mixture of underglaze pigments, before allowing it to dry completely for about three weeks. It is then bisque fired to 1000 degrees centigrade, and the motifs painted using underglazes. Finally, a transparent glaze is applied to the surface and the sculpture is fired to 1150 degrees centigrade.