Joy & Sorrow, 2023

<p>Vicky Lindo and her partner, Bill Brookes, have been making ceramics since 2013 alongside Lindo’s painting practice. The duo work in their studio in Bideford, Devon. The couple’s work draws on subjects as diverse as classical mythology, history, the natural world, politics, and their everyday lives. Vicky studied Textiles at Herefordshire College of Art & Design and discovered a love of slip casting after she started working at Bideford Museum. They are inspired by traditional English slipware pottery and images that Lindo describes as, anything from a funny story heard on the radio, heroic animals, a pattern on an antique rug or a beautiful old tree in the local park.  Lindo designs the original objects in clay before Bill creates the mould and the centrifugal apparatus needed to make each object. Once fired and glazed for the first time, Vicky uses sgraffito to draw her design, before it is overglazed and fired again.</p> <p>In 2019, Lindo and Brookes won the BCB Award for <em>Dead Dad Book</em>, which took the form of nine large-form vessels which told the moving story of Vicky’s father, who came to Britain as part of the Windrush Generation. The <em>Dead Dad Book</em> explored the themes of migration, racism and identity and was acquired for the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.</p>