My path to becoming an artist began in London in 1999. I opened my first art gallery in Kew, London (called Blue Wing Gallery) while studying a BA degree course at Chelsea College of Art in 2003. We moved the gallery to Padstow, Cornwall in 2004. The gallery became a jewellery retailer and I have retained my role as creative director for the company up to the present day and whilst studying my degree at Falmouth University.

I have studied a wide variety of art mediums over the last twenty years: I practiced life drawing, oil painting, darkroom photography, textiles, interior design, mould making, casting, digital photography, mosaics, ceramics, picture frame making, print making, screen printing and jewellery making. I love learning and developing new skills and incorporating them into my creative activity. This has led me to my current approach to making ceramics.

I am driven by the potentially ruinous techniques and seeking a precarious balance between control and chance. I believe uncontrollable elements can lead me to unpredictable outcomes which create unique objects of art. Most of my works explore the idea of needing destruction as much as creation.

I love photography. Since the  digital photography revolution, photography hasn't only changed on a functional level, but also on an aesthetic level. I have been passionate about photography since the age of 18. I learned about analogue photography, film cameras and darkroom techniques in my twenties. I still enjoy using my analogue cameras and film photography for my creative purpose.  I believe film photography has a unique place in modern day art and craftworks. The mystique of not knowing immediately how the image you have captured will look and the physical process of developing and printing images is something that cannot be replicated in a purely digital workflow.

I am particularly inspired by storytelling over objects and fascinated by not only cultural connections between past, present and future but also interactions and influences between different cultures at different times.

Outside of the world of art and ceramics I love travelling. My biggest dream is to travel the world with my husband and experience as many places we can in our lifetime, learning as we go of different landscapes, cultures and histories.

Bircan uses imagery and mark making on ceramic vessels to express her own formative experiences. The tone of her narratives is psychologically complex and often influenced by unconscious processes. Not only does she use various methods to make her vessels, but also employs a range of techniques, such as printmaking, analogue photography, and collage works to create intricate, animated surfaces.

All the vessels and sculptures have been handmade by Bircan and, due to her making technique, each piece is unique. Working in a variety of traditional media such as ceramics, printmaking, analogue photography, and collage works; Bircan is best known for her ability to combine delicately crafted ceramic objects with a story from a memory with a hidden emotion. Her subject matter inspiration is drawn from her own photography during exploration of living and travelling in different countries.

Bircan works with earthenware, stoneware, buff raku and textured clays, which have a large firing range and beautiful soft varied tones after bisque firing. They are also tolerant to heat-shock which gives her lots of scope for experimentation with glazes and firing techniques. Due to the nature of the clays, glazes and image techniques her pieces are purely decorative, non-functional ware.

Her vessels always have some form of decoration which gives them a tactile, interesting, and complex quality making it virtually impossible to resist the urge to look closer. Perhaps unsettling, often caustic but drawing attention. Bircan’s work explores the human experience in relation to the cultural connection between past, present and future and also influences between different cultures.

Bircan Harper

Nationality: Turkish & British  

Qualifications:

• BA(Hons) Art and Design Practice – Plymouth University (2019-2021)

• Truro and Penwith College – Part time- Adult Education (2016-2019)

Ceramics – Jewellery Making – Print Making – Textile - Photography

• BA Fine Art – Falmouth University –(second year) (2005-2006)

• BA Fine Art- Chelsea College of Art London(first year) (2003-2004)

• Foundation Degree Fine Art –Wimbledon School of Art London (2002-2003)

• Richmond School of Art – Part time- Adult Education (2000-2002)

Ceramics- Life Drawing – Photography – Mosaics – Picture framing - Painting

• Bachelor of Law – Ankara University – Turkey (1991-1997)

Career History:

• Blue Wing Gallery Ltd– 2004- (Present) Creative Director Curator

Blue Wing Gallery Kew 2003(London) and Padstow 2004-Present (Cornwall)

Jewellery Design for Blue Wing Gallery (2006-Present)

Exhibitions: (2002-2022)

• BCTF – DN Graduate Member Stand

• Handmade Britain – Chelsea Town Hall Stand

• Graduation Exhibition – Cornwall Museum - Truro

• Riverside Gallery – Richmond – Solo Exhibition

• Battersea Contemporary Art Fair

• On the Wall – Olympia – London

• The Collection- Summer Show- Padstow

• The Wine Gallery –Solo Exhibition – Chelsea

• Orleans House Gallery – Twickenham

• Landmark Art Centre – In House- Teddington

• Richmond Art Fair- Richmond

• Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society Summer Exhibition

Awards:

• Short listed artist at The Figure and The Face Exhibition – Orleans House Gallery -Second best photography panel by public votes at RTPS Summer Exhibition

• Commissions: BP Chemicals – Diversity Creation – Sunbury- Team building art workshop.

• Works in private collections throughout Turkey, UK, Kuwait, USA and Canada.

                                                                                                                           

My sanctuary, this is the space that I find most connected and can change it to the way I feel.

It can be a ceramic studio one day, a photography darkroom or a print room another day... 

I developed unique techniques by pushing traditional methods into new directions and always seeking a precarious balance between control and chance in my work.

The use of photographic liquid emulsion is a traditional photographic technique threatened with extinction since the emergence of digital photography. Film photography plays an important role in my practice and I aspire to be a flag bearer for darkroom practice and pass my skills on to future generations to keep this craft alive.

My vessels are handmade by using multiple methods. I work with my own clay and slip mixtures. Vessels can be cast, coiled or slab built. Sometimes I start with a cast shape and I keep hand building on it with various slips and clays. I fire and re-fire vessels on an electric kiln, or even sometimes raku kiln until I am satisfied with the form and texture. I draw and sometimes use printing techniques on the vessels with underglazes and pigments between firings. 

Often I carry on working further on it in the darkroom with photo emulsion. I use my own photography that I took during exploration of living and travelling in different countries. Sometimes it takes several attempts to achieve desired outcomes. The process is very labour intensive, and sometimes takes several weeks or months to finish a vessel. 

I have been passionate about photography since the age of 18. I learned about analogue photography, film cameras and darkroom techniques in my twenties. I still enjoy using my analogue cameras and film photography for my creative purpose.  I believe film photography has a unique place in modern day art and craftworks. 

Once all worked out after layers of processes completed, I fix the vessel with clear varnish to preserve and make sure the artwork last for generations to come.