Michaela Haynes
Contemporary Sculptor – Ceramic & Mixed Media
📞 07779 877670
✉️ michaela38@hotmail.co.uk
🌐 https://artbymichaela.com
Artist Statement
My practice explores vulnerability, repair and emotional survival through sculpture, painting and mixed media. Working across clay, reclaimed fragments and atmospheric landscape imagery, I create tactile works that reflect on the ways people carry grief, memory, resilience and hope within both the body and the wider environment.
Central to the work is an interest in transformation. Broken ceramic forms, discarded fragments and damaged surfaces are often reassembled and reworked rather than concealed, becoming metaphors for lived experience and emotional recovery. Clay is used for its physical immediacy and sensitivity to touch; it records pressure, fracture and repair, allowing each piece to hold traces of both making and memory.
The female torso appears throughout my practice as a symbolic and emotional form rather than a literal portrait. Fragmented and partially formed, these sculptures explore themes of vulnerability, identity and endurance while inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences of fragility and healing. Alongside the sculptural work, expansive skies, angelic forms and layered mixed media compositions create contemplative spaces that speak to solace, transcendence and the search for emotional refuge.
My practice moves between body, landscape and sacred symbolism, blurring the boundaries between personal and collective experience. Whether through sculpture, painting or socially engaged work, I aim to create spaces for reflection, connection and quiet acts of repair.
Education
PGCE, Nottingham Trent University (2024)
BA (Hons) Sustainable Design – First Class, University of Derby (2004)
Selected Exhibitions
Look Up – Solo Exhibition, Springs Church, Ripley, Derbyshire (2025)
It Starts with Men, London Borough of Camden (2024)
York Ceramics Fair, York St John University (2021)
Earth & Fire International Ceramics Fair, Rufford Abbey (2011, 2021)
Inside Job Exhibition, Tate Modern, London (2019)
St Ives Festival, 54 Lemons Gallery, St Ives (2016–2018)
Landscapes for Dad – Solo Exhibition, Buxton Art Gallery (2014)
Selected Group Exhibitions
SHEROES – Revoluciones Exhibition, London (2019–2020)
Earth & Fire International Ceramics Show (Online, 2020)
The Hepworth Wakefield Ceramics Fair (Online, 2020)
Fusion, Catmose Gallery (2010)
Creative Greenhouse Exhibition, Rufford Abbey (2012)
Sharpes Pottery Exhibition, Swadlincote (2005)
Made in Derby, Guildhall, Derby (2005)
Earlier Exhibitions
New Designers, Business Design Centre, London (2004)
Sculpture Trail, Wirksworth Stone Centre (2004)
Movement by Design, Derby Dance Centre (2003)
Sustainable Makers Commission, Earth Centre, Doncaster (2003)
Professional Experience
Artist (Self-Employed) — 2004–Present
Developing a ceramic and mixed media sculptural practice, exhibiting nationally.
Facilitator, Tate St Ives (2014–2019)
Delivered gallery-based workshops in response to exhibitions.
Tutor, Wakefield Council Adult Education (2013–2014)
Taught drawing, painting and ceramics up to City & Guilds level.
Private Art Tutor (2012–Present)