Felicity Aylieff b. 1954, Bedfordshire, England

Felicity Aylieff is one of the UK’s most innovative contemporary artists working in clay. She established her reputation as a maker of large-scale, sculptural ceramics at the Royal College of Art in 1996. Ten years on, an ‘incredibly liberating’ artist residency in Jingdezhen, China, the historic home of Chinese porcelain production, saw the beginning of a series of monumental pots, the largest of which stands three metres high. Returning each summer since then Felicity has developed the surface decoration of the pots with printed, stylised drawings of plants and flowers or colourful clouds of exquisite, exotic butterflies.

The strong relationships developed with porcelain factories have enabled Aylieff to work in an unprecedented way and the knowledge and expertise gained from this rich cultural exchange have offered her limitless inspiration. Her work reflects her confidence when drawing-on and reinterpreting traditional Chinese techniques of porcelain production and decoration.

Felicity has taught Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art for over fifteen years.