Zoë Pinnell

Zoë Pinnell is a ceramicist working out of her communal studio, Hamilton Craft Studios, in Hamilton, Ontario. She is a recent graduate of Sheridan College where she received a Bachelors of Craft and Design. Zoës work consists of illustrated sculptural and functional handbuilt objects that are decorated with colourful glazes, underglaze, and terra sigillata. Her work is handbuilt by pinching, coiling, and slab building using earthenware. She fires her work in an electric kiln to a hot Cone 03, creating more of a toastiness in the red clay. Earthenware is an honour to the earth that we walk on and grow our gardens with, using the deep terracotta to create warmth and depth in her surfaces, luring you into her narratives. Zoë is heavily influenced by historical patterns, tchotchke objects, and floral motifs, creating her patterns and illustrations from memories of what something may look like, but not entirely be. Her highly decorative work will bring you on a journey through the growth and interaction of gardens we grow while meeting the creatures, from bugs to beasts, that reside in them.