WELCOME TO
Alison Waters Art
HAND BUILT CERAMICS - ARTS FOR WELLBEING
I am a mixed media artist working from GRIT Studio, Stockport where I work primarily on creating decorated, hand built ceramics. I regularly facilitate workshops in both ceramics and mixed media for several ceramic studios and also for ARC - Arts for Recovery in Stockport and Lime Arts, Manchester NHS Trust.
I have a particular interest in community and arts for well being and have many years of experience working within the SEMH educational sector.
I find my inspiration in the environment that surrounds me; encouraging others to look closer and longer at the beauty around them whether natural or urban.
GALLERIES & EXHIBITIONS
I exhibit in galleries throughout the UK and at high end craft and ceramic fairs throughout the year. Follow my instagram story for regular updates.
@alisonwatersart
Manchester Art Gallery and Shop
Caged Elegance
A Fair City
Sept 2025 - Jan 2026
Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair
October 2023
October 2024
October 2025 UPCOMING
Hepworth Ceramic Fair
June 2024
Stockport Memorial Art Galler
Open exhibition2022
Calgary Art Gallery
IDENTITY
Current Stockists
Tinker Gallery
BUILT
October 2024
Inspire Gallery, North Yorkshire Moors
This Diverse Landscape
May - July 2024
Manchester Art Gallery Shop
IDENTITY
20:22 exhibition
Manchester Ceramics F
Nov 2022
May 2025
COLLECT ART
Cover image and magazine article
July 2024
Cotton On Manchester
Landscapes
2022
Design Nation
Member
2024 - Current Day
Teaching and Workshops
Passionate about arts for wellbeing and creative health, I facilitate regular workshops at Arc Centre, Stockport and a variety of other wellbeing workshops in the North West.
Bramall Hall
2018
Artist in Residence
CLAY Studio, Manchester
2017 - 2020
Workshop Facilitator
ARC Centre, Stockport
2016 - present day
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Workshop facilitator - In person and virtually
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ARC Centre, Stockport
2020 - 2021
Creative instructional videos
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Lime Arts Manchester NHS Trust
2019 - present day
Arts for Wellbeing facilitator
Poynton Pottery
Sept 2021 - Sept 2024
Workshop Facilitator
CAGED ELEGANCE
Manchester Art Gallery Showcase Award
A beautifully drawn plan of Broughton Park Zoological Gardens in Salford with animal list and descriptions was the inspiration for this collection of work.
The plan’s classical architecture depicts — porticoes, colonnades and elegant symmetry, offering an interesting contrast to Alison’s characteristic modernist or industrial ceramic style. This contrast sparked new ideas and possibilities within her practice.
A Fair City
Manchester Art Gallery Showcase Award
Three watercolour street scenes by William Goodfellow
Painted in warm tones, these everyday views of Manchester neighbourhoods capture moments of urban life—redolent of her own Stockport Chimneys series. Each evokes a distinct sense of place, inviting reflection on a changing urban landscape.
Landmark
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OUT OF SIGHT - OUT OF MIND
Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
My Landmark collection is inspired by the recently demolished cooling towers of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in Warrington, Cheshire. Before these gigantic landmarks were demolished, I wanted to capture them and learn from the local residents who had lived in their shadow for most of their lives. Through these conversations, I became increasingly aware of how our industrial landscape is disappearing, and how industrial landmarks can come to symbolise 'home' for people.
Fiddlers Ferry buildings
Bricks
Focusing on the last few remaining landmarks of the ironstone mining industry of the North Yorks Moors and tales of the miners who created and lived within its industrial landscape. This collection of stoneware bricks evokes memories of the hardship faced by the miners and features images of industry related architecture within the national park’s boundaries.
Be Sober
Identity
Porcelain and Stoneware vessels with sgraffito decoration
I combine my passion for drawing and hand built ceramics working in porcelain or stoneware, decorating the surface with my observations from nature.
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I have a particular passion for trees and have a collection of ceramics inspired by the hauntingly beautiful felled tree stumps found at Langamull, North West Mull Community Woodland.
Identity
Porcelain with black sgraffito
Calgary Art Gallery, Isle of Mull
Porcelain vase
Black sgraffito tree ring decoration. Each tree ring has an individual desig; an individual identity
Porcelain bowls
Black sgraffito tree ring decoration. Each tree ring has an individual desig; an individual identity.
Porcelain Pinch Pots
Black sgraffito tree ring decoration. Each tree ring has an individual desig; an individual identity
Porcelain and Found Object Spoons
Black sgraffito tree ring decoration. Each tree ring has an individual design an individual identity. Using beautiful found objects from the natural world to create decorative handles.
Stoneware Vase
Large stoneware vase with matt white glaze and black sgraffito decoration
Regeneration
Stoneware vessels with digital transfer decoration
Moving studios to the northern industrial town of Stockport has influenced my ceramics away from the natural to the architectural. A vintage book found on a Stockport marketplace stall boasted of Stockport being the envy of the north with its new 1960's shopping precinct and revolutionary high rise housing. As Stockport undergoes a new wave of transformation I seek to capture the town as it is before change for better or worse, happens once again.
View Through a Hole
Stoneware vessels with digital transfer decoration
Inspired by the views through the iconic Alan Boysen car park screen in Stockport. Capturing the multi faceted architectural face of this northern town as it enters another phase of redevelopment.
My Story
Having graduated in 2015 from Manchester School of art as a mature student with a 1st class hons degree in Creative Practice, I was at a loss - what to do next ... and so my journey with ceramics began ... CLAY studio Manchester had just opened and so I enrolled on a 6 week hand building course. 8 years later I am now at a new artist studio in Stockport - GRIT Studio and facilitating my own ceramic's workshops whilst selling my work through galleries and by commission.
Arts for Wellbeing is my passion and I regularly facilitate sessions for ARC and Lime Arts.
Handmade Books
Etchings and screen prints
The Pathos of Things
Inspired by Japanese imagery, this beautiful fan is decorated with screen printed images of leaf skeletons.  Delicate Japanese paper is intricately concertina folded to create the pages of this artist's book.
To the Woods
Etching of woodland illustration printed onto Japanese paper
Forest Bathing
Based on drawings of the trees in Whitworth park, this birch plywood fan screen printed and embellished with gold foil.
Ceramics - other projects
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Identity ...
Beautiful petit porcelain pinch pots. Black sgraffito decoration echoing the individual identity of every tree.
I go to the Peace of Wild Things 2
Beautiful hand coiled stoneware pot. Hand decorated with illustration of birch trees.
Langamull Tree Rings - Stoneware...
Hand built stoneware vase with hand carved and sgraffito tree ring. Inspired from the Forestry Commission land at Langamull, Isle of Mull.
Stockport Chimneys
Contemporary hand built vase in glazed and unglazed stoneware.
3 little birds..
Hand built porcelain bowl, spot glazed on colour. Inspired by the beautiful garden birds that have been our joy and solace through the lockdown. Features colours of robin, blue tit and blackbird.
I saw a flash of black...
Hand built porcelain vase. Spot glazed on colour. Inspired by the beautiful garden birds that have been our joy and solace through the lockdown. Each vase features one bird: blackbird, robin, blue tit, great tit, sparrow.
Workshops
Ceramics, book making, drawing and collage.
I have many years experience of teaching SEMH students and delivering art workshops to a people of all ages. I specialise in facilitating to vulnerable children and adults and encourage them to find the value in using art as a therapy.
Workshops can be tailored to suit anyone and can be in a variety of media from clay to paper and collage. I can deliver workshops from Cakebread Workshop or at a venue to suit the client. I am also now very confident at delivering virtual workshops over zoom.
Please feel free to message me with any queries.
Arts for Wellbeing
Examples of workshops
Book in a Box
Miniature book in a box created by collaging with postage stamps
STARLING INC Young persons workshop
Collaborative Large Scale Collage
Created with hand painted papers
ARC Stockport Community Programme
Exploring Mark Making
Mark making on paper and ceramic tiles
ARC Stockport SHINE Young Peoples Project
Arts for Wellbeing
Examples of workshops
Large Scale Collaborative Book
Large Scale book based on poem "Hope is a thing with feathers..."Â created by collaging hand painted papers
LIME ARTS Manchester NHS Trust
Collage and Ceramic Tiles
Hand made ceramic tiles decorated with digital transfer of collaged piece
LIME ARTS Manchester NHS Trust
Mod Roc Creative Creatues
Mod Roc sculpture
ARC Stockport SHINE Young Peoples Project
