Rebecca Walklett

Rebecca works with colour, form and a continuing fascination with the idea of ‘vessel’. She uses a variety of techniques to explore these themes, such as raising, press forming, fabrication, etching and patination. All the vessels are a result of a combination of photos, drawing, models and intuitive making.

Having discovered patination while at college, Rebecca continuously tries new ways of colouring her metal pieces. ‘College’ was Middlesex Polytechnic (London) and de Montfort University (Leicester) where Rebecca studied Three Dimensional Design and specialised in metal. Rebecca graduated in 1996 with a BA(hons) degree and eventually got round to her MA in 2015, graduating from Plymouth College of Art with an MA in Contemporary Craft.

Raising is the traditional way of creating a vessel without a seam or solder join and involves hammering a flat disc of metal over steel or wooden formers (stakes) to gradually move the metal in to the desired shape. Rebecca finds the methodical and rhythmic hammering that this process requires relaxing and almost meditative. It becomes a conversation between metal, hammer and mind.

The move to Cornwall in 2005 initially disrupted Rebecca’s practice but gradually the ever-present fascination with geology, wild weather and the constantly changing colours of the county have fed into her work, as has the industrial and architectural history of Cornwall, and this influence can be seen in her choice of materials such as copper and pewter. The combination of the soft sheen of pewter and the strong earthy colours of the copper reflects aspects of water and earth that shape all ways of life in Cornwall.