Lisa Sheppy – From pattern book to shard: a future for tissue transferware
Underglaze tissue transfer printing on ceramics was a revolutionary technique pioneered at Dr Wall’s Worcester porcelain factory in the 18th century. This distinctive printmaking process enabled the mass re-production of elaborate and fashionable artist engravings to be printed onto everyday ceramic objects. Practiced inside the factory, much of the knowledge surrounding this industrial craft has been lost as the pottery industries have closed or have replaced printing on ceramics with newer and more cost effective forms of decoration. Unlike many industrial forms of printmaking such as screen printing, tissue transfer printing has never made the transition from industry to contemporary art practice.
In her talk Dr Lisa Sheppy brings an artist printmaker’s perspective to historical findings made in the archive at Royal Worcester and oral history accounts from ex pottery professionals. Furthermore, she demonstrates how this new method of tissue transferware for artists has been developed from combining historical findings and innovative material research. Her doctorate was funded through the AHRC and The National Productivity Investment Fund at UWE’s Centre for Print Research and completed in 2023.
Lisa demonstrates a new method of printmaking on ceramics through a series of art works, produced with a palette of tools and materials familiar to artists working in the fields of printmaking and ceramics. This new method is open, accessible and within reach of future artists to realise its creative potential.
