Zoë Pinnell
B.A.
Zoë Pinnell is a ceramicist working out of her communal studio, Hamilton Craft Studios, in Hamilton, Ontario. She is a recent graduate of Sheridan College where she received a Bachelors of Craft and Design.
Zoë’s work consists of illustrated sculptural and functional handbuilt objects that are decorated with colourful glazes, underglaze, and terra sigillata. Her work is handbuilt by pinching, coiling, and slab building using earthenware. She fires her work in an electric kiln to a hot Cone 03, creating more of a toastiness in the red clay.
Earthenware is an honour to the earth that we walk on and grow our gardens with, using the deep terracotta to create warmth and depth in her surfaces, luring you into her narratives.
Zoë is heavily influenced by historical patterns, tchotchke objects, and floral motifs, creating her patterns and illustrations from memories of what something may look like, but not entirely be.
Her highly decorative work will bring you on a journey through the growth and interaction of gardens we grow while meeting the creatures, from bugs to beasts, that reside in them.
BACKGROUND & TRAINING
- 2017-20 BA Craft & Design, Major Ceramics, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
- 2015-16 Studied Ceramic, Art History and Textiles, NSCAD University, Halifax, NS
ARTISTS RESIDENCIES
- 2020-22 Craft & Design: Ceramics, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON
- 2018 Medalta, Medicine Hat, AB
EXHIBITIONS & SHOWS:
Solo
- 2021 Clay Gardens, Installation, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON
Group
- 2023 CLAY FEST, Saratoga Clay Arts Centre, Schuylerville, NY
- 2023 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON
- 2023 Mkt Mkt Market Events, Rug & Weave, Guelph, ON
- 2023 Mudties Pop-Up, Homemakers Bar, Cincinnati, OH
- 2023 Fireworks 2023, Neilson Park Creative Centre, The Gardiner Museum Shop, The Art Gallery of Burlington, The Rails End Gallery, Travelling Exhibition, ON
- 2023 Golden Hour, Paul Elia Gallery, Hamilton, ON
- 2023 Plant Pots II, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL, Online Exhibition
- 2022 Ash & Barrel Invitational, Fairweather Brewery, Hamilton, ON
- 2022 Fusion Clay & Glass Show, Wychwood Barns, Toronto, ON
- 2022 Plant Pots, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL, Online Exhibition
- 2021 Clay to Table, Online Exhibition
- 2021 The Ceramics Congress, Online Congress Event
- 2020 Spark Reflector, SAMARA Contemporary, Toronto, ON
- 2020 Lucid, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON
- 2019 Mud Ties Pop-up, Number Twelve Cider, Minneapolis, MN
- 2017-19 Sheridan College Ceramics Exhibition, Oakville, ON
- 2017 ‘Made in Canada’, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts, Toronto, ON
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
- 2022 Best of Functional Award, Fusion Clay & Glass
- 2020 Joan Bennett Award
- 2019 Pottery Supply House Award
- 2018 Medalta Potteries Student Residency Award
- 2017 Best in Show, ‘Made in Canada’, Gardiner Museum