Two emerging local artists are getting Bermudians fired up about ceramics with a new show at the Bermuda Society of Arts Gallery at City Hall.

'Evolve' kicked off on Friday, showcasing the work of Rachel Furbert, 24, and Aubrey Hardy, 30 – both potters at the Bermuda Clayworks Ltd. in Dockyard.

In 2009, Miss Furbert received a $5,000 bursary award from the BSoA to study at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina for two months.

Penland is a world renowned centre for craft education located in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. Students live at Penland and take only one class at a time allowing them to learn by total immersion.

"I am a decorator at the Bermuda Clayworks Ltd.," said Miss Furbert. "It was slow at the Bermuda Clayworks during the winter months, so we thought it would be good to do a course."

She went to Penlands to study decorating, but they weren't actually offering any ceramics decorating courses.

"So I took courses in clay throwing and firing," she said. "I wasn't sure if I was going to like actually making the pieces or whether I was going to be good at it. But after the first two weeks I fell in love with it."

She came to ceramics with a background in fine art.

"I started off in watercolours from when I was ten or 11-years-old," she said. "I went to a tutor for my art. Then, I went to the Bermuda College and studied acrylics. Then I came to the Bermuda Clayworks."

This is her first dual-show, but her work has appeared in the BSoA 'Emerging Artists' Show, highlighting work by young artists studying at home and overseas. In 'Evolve' she has some functional pieces such as teapots and small jugs, and also more abstract art pieces.

Pointing to a small teapot, she said: "These are from when it all started to come together for me. With the teapot, I put it in a particular area of the kiln for a particular effect and it all worked out. It was wood kiln and it received more ash in that spot to great effect." BSoA assistant director Lesley Rego said giving a bursary for a short-term programme like Penlands was a bit of a diversion from their usual awards, which usually go to people in college or university programmes.

"We are very happy that Rachel has progressed in her chosen field which is ceramics," said Ms Rego. "Having that emersion for those months really helped her. Last year she was talking about maybe going back to school to teach."

Ms Rego said it was good to see the community of potters on the Island growing.

"There aren't many potters on the Island," she said, "although both myself and gallery director Julie Hastings Smith are potters."

She said getting materials and the right kiln in Bermuda could be frustrating for local potters. Mrs. Hardy, originally from Wallingford, Connecticut, agreed with her. "It is different here because everything has to be imported," she said. "Certain firings can't happen here."

She joked that woodfiring (a way to fire clay) would essentially "deforest" Bermuda.

"Space is an issue," she said. "If you are going to do certain firings, you have to make sure you have enough space and you are not inundating your neighbour with smoke."

She said living in Bermuda had taught her how to be creative with the resources she had.

"I am working with Earthenware which is new for me," she said. "I normally work with stoneware which is a higher fire."

Earthenware is white, porous clay that is fired at a temperature of 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit and then glazed and decorated. Stoneware is fired at about 2185 degrees Fahrenheit and is known to be more resistant to chipping than Earthenware.

All Mrs. Hardy's pieces in the show are a plain white with the occasional dash of colour.

"The white pieces are new for me," said Mrs. Hardy. "I found when I went to university that I would glaze something and it would change for me. I wouldn't like the piece anymore. It took away from the form, and I am more attracted to form rather than colour. That has become my focus without meaning it to be. I like to keep it simple."

Her inspirations are natural ones. "I am attracted to how forms of nature can often emulate the human form," she said.

Several of her vases in the show represent blades of grass blowing in the wind. She also has a large wall hanging depicting falling leaves.

"I have two pieces in the Brandon Gallery in Madison, Connecticut," she said. "They are abstract representations of trees reaching for the sky. I think my favourite piece in the show is 'Falling Leaves'. That is the most recent piece I made. When I make things I like them for a little while and then I move on. So that is part of the reason for the title of the show, because you are constantly growing from one piece to the other."

Mrs. Hardy is married to Bermudian Christopher Hardy, and graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on ceramics. She and her husband returned to the Island to live a year ago.

"The most challenging aspect of ceramics is the waiting game you have to play with clay," said Mrs. Hardy. "You have to let things set up. If you work too early they just want to slump and fall down.

"It is about knowing 'when' with clay. At the moment, I think my challenge is learning to mix different glazes and starting different firing techniques."

Mrs. Hardy started out in university as a photography major at Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Later, she transferred to Southern Connecticut State University.

"I couldn't sign up for photo class in the first semester so I signed up for clay and loved it," she said. "My professor sat me down and said 'I think you might have something here, have you thought about changing your major'.

"I would some day love to combine the two mediums photography and clay, in some way."

'Evolve' is on for the next three week at BSoA.

There are also a number of other shows going on simultaneously including one of Bermuda High School Students General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) art work, a children's art show sponsored by the Bermuda Statistics Department, and work from a life drawing class taught by well-known Bermudian artist Emma Ingham-Dounouk.

For more information about the BSoA annual bursary, contact the BSoA at 292-3824, e-mail them at bsoaibl.bm or see their website at http://www.bsoa.bm.

Note: Aubrey Hardy is the sister-in-law of Jessie Moniz.