Carole Epp is a Canadian ceramic artist living and working in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She received her Masters Degree in Ceramics from the Australian National University in 2005 and has maintained a full-time studio practice since.
Her ceramics branch off into two distinct bodies of work wherein she produces a line of figurative sculptural objects as well as domestic functional objects. Her work has been exhibited throughout Canada, Australia, Scotland and the United States. She has taught workshops in Canada, the United States and Australia on ceramics, social media and professional practice.
Her artwork and writing have also been published in magazine publications, websites and books; most notably in 2017 in Ceramics Monthly when she was named the Ceramic Artist of the Year.
A fierce advocate for the ceramics community, she is editor of Musing About Mud an online blog that showcases information, calls for entry, exhibitions and artist profiles related to the ceramic arts; and is the co-founder of Make and Do ceramics which is a Canadian collective focused on the promotion of Canadian ceramics internationally. In 2020, she co-authored The Encyclopedia of Inspiration: Ceramics (Profiles of Potters and Artisans) through Uppercase publishing. She just completed curating a major exhibition for the Ceramics Congress (May 2021) showcasing ceramics from across Canada to an international audience.
I’m a maker of objects that through their imagery, evoke nostalgia, innocence and love. Perhaps sometimes a greater narrative or story is lurking in the images sometimes not. I also joke that my current work can be summed up as being about diapers and death. Overly simplistic as that might sound it’s reasonable accurate. My art has always reflected my life. Inspiration comes from that which is closest to me so I speak to global narratives through personal means. I am currently sandwiched in between young children and retired parents, grasping to try to make sense of things and realizing that none of us really know what we’re doing. We make it up along the way and our failures have the potential to lead us towards paths of success should we chose to learn from them.
I find inspiration all around me. The reward of this work for me is that through its engagement with nostalgia, familiar imagery, it might create an ability to for the audience to see themselves represented in the handmade objects that they use. I also want to expand the audience’s expectations of ceramic tableware. Beyond the simplicity of the work is lurking a desire to create sustainable objects in a world hell bent on disposability and consumerism. I hope to redefine for an audience how they engage with everyday objects and I wish to contribute to a dialogue of how even functional work can be political and socially minded. I strongly believe that pottery is political, whether it’s simply through the alternative, counter capitalist lifestyles artists often chose – valuing so much over monetary gain; or the more literal use of the functional object to bring political narratives to the dinner table. A space in which most of us engage each other in the day to day of society and politics.