21 April 2026
Artist Highlight - Neve Beill
Interview and Review
Ceramics is inherently energy-intensive, yet London-based ceramic artist and material researcher Neve Beill is committed to reducing its environmental impact by exploring overlooked resources and foraged materials. She challenges disciplinary boundaries through transforming unconventional materials that carry stories of residue and place. In 2025, she received the Cockpit Studio Make It Award, gaining studio space and business support for two years. Whilst earning a degree in Product Design, she developed her distinctive voice through sustained material experimentation. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications.
ARTIST INTERVIEW
1. Perpetual Ash: Smoker’s Lung transforms cigarette ash into ceramic glaze. What drew you to work with a material so often associated with waste or discomfort?
Perpetual Ash: Smoker’s Lung transforms cigarette ash into a ceramic glaze. This unique waste material, though minuscule and easily dismissed, has the power to evoke strong reactions, from disgust to nostalgia, carrying a sense of presence and narrative. I was originally drawn to work with it through a chance encounter while creating wood ash glazes and noticing an ashtray in the corner of the studio. After testing it and realising its potential, I became committed to exploring how this discarded material could be transformed through ceramics, allowing it to be reconsidered and perceived in a new light.
2. The series progresses through stages with increasing concentrations of ash. How do these subtle material variations influence the visual and tactile qualities of the vessels?
The work comes from an interest in how small changes affect outcome, altering surface, texture, and behaviour. Each vessel is glazed with increasing concentrations of ash, creating subtle shifts in finish. Pieces with less ash appear muted and matt, while higher concentrations become more saturated and glossier. These gradual shifts show how small changes can make a significant difference, much like cigarette ash itself, often seen as insignificant, yet its toxins quietly seep into the earth over prolonged periods of time. The lung detailing reflects this progression, increased exposure to smoking gradually impacts the body, much like small changes having the power to reduce environmental pollution. These variations shape both the visual and metaphorical qualities of the work.
3. The vessels are also made from reclaimed clay sourced from a construction site. How does combining these two overlooked materials influence the conceptual framework of the series?
Combining cigarette ash with reclaimed construction clay brings together materials that usually go unnoticed. The ash, typically overlooked and discarded, carries traces of personal habit, while the clay, often excavated from construction sites and sent to landfill, reflects the unwanted. By turning them into vessels, the work makes these invisible remnants visible, giving form to what is normally ignored. It suggests that the unwanted and unseen still holds presence, and can be reshaped into something meaningful, examining themes of transformation and renewal.
4. Ash behaves unpredictably during firing. How do you negotiate control and chance within the glazing process?
Ash introduces an element of unpredictability in the firing process, each batch I collect has slightly different properties due to the range of cigarette brands and types. This makes control and chance an important balance within the work. I control what I can, the glaze composition and ash concentration, but the final surface is never entirely fixed, no matter how much testing is done. The ash melts and reacts in unexpected ways, creating variations in texture and finish. Rather than resisting this, I work with it, allowing each vessel to record a unique interaction between material, heat, and time.
5. The work carries a strong sense of locality, linking the objects to specific urban environments. How important is place within your material research?
Place is central to my material research. The materials are collected from across London, grounding the work in a specific urban environment. Growing up between London and the Isle of Wight, my connection to ceramics began through playing with local clay as a child. Working with materials tied to place embeds a sense of location in the final pieces, while deepening my own connection to the process and outcome. It also invites viewers to reconsider discarded materials, encouraging reflection to what might otherwise go unnoticed.
6. Within The Invisible Made Visible, the work reveals hidden material histories embedded in waste. What do you hope viewers begin to reconsider about everyday residues after encountering these pieces?
Within The Invisible Made Visible, my work Perpetual Ash: Smoker’s Lung aims to prompt viewers to reconsider the presence and value of what may seem insignificant. It invites a re-evaluation of what we perceive as waste, encouraging a shift in perception where discarded materials are no longer ignored, but recognised as holding meaning, memory, and potential beyond their original use.
RESIDUE, TRANSFORMATION, AND THE QUIET WEIGHT OF WASTE
Review by Chih-Yang Chen, Art Director
Neve Beill’s work begins with materials most people would rather ignore. Perpetual Ash: Smoker’s Lung takes cigarette ash, something small, unpleasant, easily dismissed, and places it at the centre of the process. What’s interesting is that the work doesn’t try to disguise where the material comes from. That association stays with you.
The vessels are made using reclaimed clay and glazed with varying concentrations of cigarette ash. At first, the differences between them feel subtle. Some surfaces are dry and muted, others more glossy, slightly denser. But the longer you look, the more these shifts begin to matter. The changes are gradual, almost quiet, but they build a kind of progression across the series. It’s not dramatic, but it’s deliberate.
There’s a clear link between material behaviour and what the work is pointing towards. The idea that small amounts of something, repeated over time, can accumulate into something more serious. That connection is there, but it’s not pushed too hard. The work doesn’t rely on explanation, it lets the material do most of it.
The unpredictability of ash plays an important role. Each firing produces slight differences, even when the process is controlled. Neve doesn’t try to eliminate that. Instead, it becomes part of the outcome. The surfaces feel like records of interaction between material and heat, rather than something fully designed in advance. That lack of total control gives the work a certain honesty.
Place also sits quietly within the work. The materials are sourced from London, from everyday environments that most people move through without noticing. There’s no attempt to make that overly visible, but it grounds the pieces. They carry something of the city within them, not as an image, but as a residue.
What stays with you is the way the work handles waste. It doesn’t try to redeem it or turn it into something beautiful in an obvious way. The discomfort remains. But at the same time, the material is given a different kind of attention. It’s held, transformed, made visible.
The vessels don’t feel like solutions. They feel more like a pause. A moment where something usually overlooked is brought into focus and allowed to sit there without being resolved too quickly.