A recent immigrant to Vancouver, Giles Barton-Owen is a ceramic artist from England. A graduate from the University of Cambridge, Giles has always tempered the mathematical and technical day to day with hands-on, physical creation which naturally led to a love of sculpture, ceramics and clay.

He has been inspired by the breathtaking and elemental landscapes of British Columbia, by rocky, stark mountains and intricate mossy forests; by the contrast between the man made and the natural world. His use of the waters of the Stawamus River in his video work explores the underwater world’s otherworldly quality, and the timeless relationship between air, water, clay and rock.

Giles also plays with the idea of temple-like structures and is inspired by their ancient, peaceful and worn spaces. The series of human forms speak of small soft vulnerable moments, which contrast with the unyielding and immutable reality of fired ceramic.