Northern Potters Association

The aim of the NPA is to encourage and support artists in the production of sculptural, functional, fine art and decorative studio pottery in all its forms throughout the North of England

Birnbaum, Helen

I started in ceramics quite late in life partly as an escape route from domestic life, but also to realise a long held artistic ambition. Many years’ later, having acquired an MA at UCLAN along the way, continue to develop my ceramic practice. My work tends to have a political edge, but I hope not without humour. I hand build and use mixed media to enhance the pieces. At the moment I am making a large chess set (the board is 2m by 2m) called Kingdom Come, Kingdom Gone inspired by a recognition of the growing power of the Asian economies and the gradually failing powers of the West, and also by what I saw when I visited Beijing, Shanghai and the Chinese countryside in 2011.