Melissa Graham: The Poetry of Use

Melissa Graham brings her exhibition The Poetry of Use to Colonnade House from Tuesday 14 July to Saturday 18 July. It's a short run, just five days, so you'll want to make your way over there during that window if you're planning to see it.

Graham is a Worthing-based potter who works out of a small garden studio, making functional ceramic pieces like mugs, bowls and jars. The show focuses on the sculptural presence of these everyday objects, and the title The Poetry of Use points to exactly that: the quiet beauty of things made to be held, shared and lived with. She describes the exhibition as a space of warmth and comfort, where handmade items serve as anchors for daily rituals.

Her practice is closely tied to the natural world. She works with handmade glazes, often incorporating wood ash to create subtle, unpredictable and natural colour palettes, and she talks about the sky and birdsong she hears while working as part of the process. For Graham, ceramics is a craft of infinite depth, and she believes functional pots speak to a fundamental human need to prepare and share food. She describes her way of working as a search for flow, stillness and joy, noting that clay is endlessly responsive to touch and mood.

It's a small-scale show about the things we use every day, so it's the kind of thing you can drift through at your own pace. Colonnade House hosts it from 14 July to 18 July.