About
Jennifer Alford is an award-winning Irish ceramicist whose creative path began not with clay, but with music. Raised in Dublin, she studied violin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music before completing her degree at University College Dublin.
For years, music provided her principal form of expression, teaching her discipline and the balance between structure and improvisation. This sensibility underpins her relationship with clay, a material that replaced music and became her creative voice.
Recognising the value of a strong formal background as a bedrock for improvisation, she trained at the Craft Council of Ireland’s renowned Ceramics Skills and Design Course in Thomastown, a programme known for its rigorous grounding in production pottery. There she gained the technical expertise that allows her to experiment freely at the wheel.
Jennifer lives and works from an old mill in the heart of the Scottish countryside.
Statement
My work explores surface and form, evoking the landscape through elemental glazes and instinctive mark-making.
All vessels become canvasses for gestural brushwork and bold incisions. Depending on the temperament of the piece, marks range from spontaneous incisions to abstract imagery. Colours and patterns found in the natural and urban landscapes inform my glaze palette and imagery. Locally foraged clays echo the colours of the land.
“When mark-making, I lose myself in the process. I experience a sense of exhilaration which I endeavour to retain in the energy of the final piece.”
Collections
Permanent collection, National Museum of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
Awards / Residencies
2025
Finalist - Inches Carr Craft Development Award
2024
Henderson Bursary Award Winner 2024
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST ) - Emerging Maker Award 2024
2023
Artist in Residence - Historic Environment Scotland (HES) & CRAFT SCOTLAND
Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award
2021
Craft Scotland - Compass Emerging Maker Programme
2020
Design and Craft Council of Ireland - Future Maker Award
Exhibitions
2025 - One from the cutting room floor, Custom Lane (Edinburgh)
2025 - Abstract aesthetic, Gallery57 (England)
2025 - Here comes Summer, Tatha Gallery (Newport-on-Tay, Scotland)
2025 - Holding Conversations, V&A (Dundee)
2025 – Inches Carr Showcase exhibition, Dundas Street Gallery (Edinburgh)
2025 - Landing on Light, Custom Lane (Edinburgh)
2025 - The Land, The Dick Institute (Kilmarnock)
2024 - 21st Century Irish Craft, National Museum of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
2024 - Henderson Bursary Award Solo exhibition, Pittenweem Arts Festival (Scotland)
2024 - 126th Annual Exhibition, Society of Scottish Artists Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh)
2024 - Meffan Winter Show, Meffan Museum & Gallery (Forfar, Scotland)
2024 - Winter Show, Number Four Gallery (Berwickshire, Scotland)
2024 - Centenary Exhibition Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh)
2023 - All the Joy, Tatha Gallery (Newport-on-Tay, Scotland)
2023 - Making History, Brechin Townhouse Museum (Brechin, Scotland)
2023 - Making History, Scottish Storytelling Centre (Edinburgh
2022 - Autumn Showcase, The Barn Gallery (Perth, Scotland)
2022 - Wild Clay, World Congress of Soil Science, SEC (Glasgow, Scotland)
2022 - Potfest, Scone Palace (Perth, Scotland)
2021 - InForm, National Museum of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
2021 - Table Talk, Blue Egg Gallery (Wexford, Ireland)
2020 - Hand to Hand, National Craft and Design Gallery (Kilkenny, Ireland)
2019 - Clay/Works Ceramics Ireland, The Printworks, Dublin Castle (Dublin, Ireland)
2019 - Summer Exhibition, Grennan Mill (Thomastown, Ireland)
Stockists
Tatha Gallery (Newport-on-Tay, Scotland)
Gallery 57 (Arundel, West Sussex)
Gallery Ten, (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Open Eye Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Memberships
Visual Arts Scotland (Professional member)
Society of Scottish Artists (Professional member)