Ian McDonald and Maria Jones are based in Solva.  Maria – a Haverfordwest native – and Ian, originally from Manchester, met whilst both working as architects in Berlin in the early 90s, and moved back to Pembrokeshire over 20 years ago to work and practise their art.

 

Working purely in porcelain, Maria creates objects of beauty – both functional and decorative. From her training as an architect, her work is all about form: how it looks, how it sounds, how it feels – how it makes you feel. Porcelain’s qualities of strength, translucency, high-octave ring when struck and silk-like smoothness make it a delight to work with, creating objects that provide use and pleasure for years to come. Using only black and white porcelain clay and slips, her body of work includes thrown and slip-cast pots, jewellery, decal work, conceptual-art pieces and bespoke chandeliers. She also creates natural glazes from materials such as Solva-harbour seaweed. Her work is showcased on ceramartist.com

 

Ian’s limited-edition giclée prints, produced from black & white pen & ink drawings, celebrate the built forms of west Wales – from its cottages, castles and cromlechs to its town squares and towers. His larger, brightly coloured screenprints, by contrast, showcase Pembrokeshire’s unique coastline – their deep, pungent colours building on illustration work one whilst working for a firm of architects in northern India. His works can be seen on ianmcdonald.co and in galleries around the county.