Jo Pearl

18/03/2026

A wonderful event last weekend in Porto to coincide with the Soil Art Tales exhibition curated by Stefano Cagol and Marta Tavares.

My thanks to all the team who made the event so special and for inviting me to present my work.

We enjoyed a gentle guided walk through the foundation’s beautiful park taking time to notice the feel of the earth beneath our feet and the delicious smells of new growth in the spring sunshine.
Then we stepped into the Soil Art Tales exhibition - playful, awe inspiring and sobering by turns. I was delighted to see the response of the audience to Dirty Secret my latest work. The children and adults in the audience were rapped by my animation and fascinated to see the ‘stars’ of the film caught in suspended animation in the ceramic displays along side.

My thanks to for commissioning Dirty Secret and Soil Art Tales. All made possible thanks to funding.

Soil Art Tales continues at the Serralves Foundation until 26 April before moving on to Rome in May.

Photos by - who accompanied me on the trip as a special Mother’s Day treat for me!

02/03/2026

Join us for a finissage gallery walk through of Undergrowth this Friday 6th March 5-6pm at the County Hall Pottery Gallery.

Together with curators and I will be on hand to show you the work in person and talk about how the exhibition came together, over a glass of something refreshing.

Location: County Hall, Belvedere Rd, SE1. Gallery entrance via main lobby and down left corridor.

RSVP via link in bio to make sure we have enough drinks!

Hope to see you there!

20/02/2026

Still time to see Undergrowth at at CHP Gallery curated by and - the show runs until 9th March. I will be in the gallery on Friday 6th March - would love to show you in person In Balance, my latest kinetic work - if you are able to come down. DM to arrange a time.

📍County Hall Pottery Gallery, enter via County Hall main entrance on Belvedere Rd.

17/02/2026

Dirty Secret

SOIL ART TALES @ THE SERRALVES ART FOUNDATION FEB 11 - APRIL 26 2026 Dirty Secret is my latest body of work about the awe-inspiring life hidden in the earth beneath our feet. It compares degraded soil with healthy soil teaming with life. The damage caused by conventional farming on soil versus the positive impact of regenerative farming on soil health....

SOIL ART TALES @ THE SERRALVES ART FOUNDATION FEB 11 – APRIL 26 2026 Dirty Secret is my latest body of work about the awe-inspiring life hidden in the earth beneath our feet. It compares degr…

14/02/2026

Dirty Secret, my latest work about soil health openned this week in SOIL ART TALES at the wonderful in Porto, Portugal.

Dirty Secret compares degraded soil with healthy soil teaming with life. Conventionally farmed soil with regeneratively farmed soil. A clay animation is accompanied by a series of ceramic microorganisms, and a sculptural frieze. I kiln-fired the ‘stars’ of the film, at the end of shooting, to capture them in suspended animation. The work continues my attempts to try and stretch at the edges of clay and ceramics, using clay to talk about the earth beneath our feet.

Curator of SOIL ART TALES states:

By translating scientific knowledge into sensorial narratives and shared experiences, the exhibition opens pathways for awareness and responsibility. The voices of soil—its textures, subtle rhythms, and silent resilience—become bridges between cultures, reminding us that we are custodians of a fragile and irreplaceable heritage.

Soil Art Tales also showcases work from three other internationally recognised artists Binta Diaw (IT/SN) , fellow artist Nikki Lindt (NL/US) .lindt , and Miguel Teodoro (PT)

The exhibition runs Feb 11 - April 26 at the Serralves Foundation in the park’s Farm Barn.

Developed within the framework of the Horizon Europe–funded project SoilTribes – Glocal Ecosystems Restoring Soil Values, Roles and Connectivity, the exhibition is presented at Serralves as part of the European project SoilScape and after in seven European institutions, including Villa Altieri – Città Metropolitana di Roma, Posavski Muzej Brežice in Slovenia, the National Gallery of Bulgaria in Sofia, Milanowskie Centrum Kultury in Poland, and Castel Belasi – Contemporary Art Center for Eco Thought in the Alps.

The exhibition is organized by the Global Network of Water Museums (WAMU+NET), curated by Stefano Cagol and coordination by Marta Tavares (Serralves Foundation)

23/01/2026

In Balance

For Undergrowth, at County Hall Pottery Gallery I have returned to working kinetically, finding sculptural ways to breathe life into clay and animate it. In Balance is a reflection on the fragile equilibrium that fungi bring to the natural world. Funga's vital role in decomposing organic matter and returning carbon to the cycle of life is under threat in the current climate crisis....

For Undergrowth, at County Hall Pottery Gallery I have returned to working kinetically, finding sculptural ways to breathe life into clay and animate it. In Balance is a reflection on the fragile e…

15/01/2026

In Balance, my latest kinetic sculpture. Designed to an eye-catching scale within this lovely gallery space of - currently showing Undergrowth curated by and . Movement and the potential for enlivened movement are intrinsic to the piece. Bringing the work to life. A metal balancing system reminiscent of judicial scales, is mounted on a repurposed adjustable stool. The structure allows the sculpted ceramic elements to spin and teeter in the gallery space.

In Balance speaks to the equilibrium that fungi bring to our ecosystem, and the jeopardy that they face in this period of climate crisis. Its unglazed ceramic elements are inspired by Pottermyces asteroxylicola, an extinct fungi, recently discovered by Dr Christine Strullu Derrien in the fossil collection of the Natural History Museum, and named after famous mycologist Beatrix Potter. The piece plays with scale and motion to bring it back to life.  A fronded-fungi, that looks capable of walking, is counter-balanced by a magnified fungal spore and a fossil-like specimen trapped in suspended animation, together they gently turn on the finely balanced rusting metal rods.

UNDERGROWTH
Til 8th March
Gallery Open Tues - Sun 11-6pm (closed 1-1.30)
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kineticart

Images 1,2 by Josef Konczak 3-5 Elsa Pearl

12/01/2026

A cracking Private View party for UNDERGROWTH tonight.

Thank you to everyone who came along. Great to see so many friends and colleagues.

The show is delightful mulching of the fungal and botanical - in our wonderful medium of clay - all beautifully curated and staged by and

“As a metaphor, Undergrowth points to the hidden, often overlooked layers of existence: ideas and processes operating beneath the surface, quietly reshaping our environment in subtle but important ways.”

My kinetic piece In Balance teeters and spins on a metal structure I made this winter. Loving breathing this ceramic work into life - and watching the childlike pleasure as viewers set it in motion.

So pleased to be exhibiting alongside UK and international ceramic artists :


ceramics


eminehijos

05/01/2026

I’m super excited to be exhibiting in Undergrowth, County Hall Pottery Gallery’s first show of 2026. To my mind the most exciting ceramics gallery in London. 

Undergrowth is curated by Elizabeth Jackson & Emily Stapleton Jefferis both themselves wonderful makers. 

“As a metaphor, Undergrowth points to the hidden, often overlooked layers of existence: ideas and processes operating beneath the surface, quietly reshaping our environment in subtle but important ways.”

I’ve enjoyed making new kinetic work for this show - at a scale that is intended to be eye catching in this lovely gallery space. In Balance rotates, teeters and as the title implies balances inspired by the equilibrium that fungal life plays in the Nature. The second image gives you a sneak peek of one of the elements I’ll be showing.

Please join us at the show’s Private View next Monday 12th Jan 6-9pm. 
County Hall Pottery Gallery, Belvedere Rd, SE1
 
Participating Artists:

ceramics


eminehijos

30/12/2025

Super excited to be included in County Hall Pottery Gallery’s first show of 2026

UNDERGROWTH
13 January – 8 March 2026
Curated by Elizabeth Jackson & Emily Stapleton Jefferis

Save the Date for the PV 12th Jan 6-9pm

Undergrowth is the layer of vegetation that lives beneath taller trees and plants — a vital ecosystem that supports biodiversity, provides shelter and food for wildlife, and powers cycles of decomposition and nutrient recycling in the soil.

As a metaphor, undergrowth points to the hidden, often overlooked layers of existence: ideas and processes operating beneath the surface, quietly reshaping our environment in subtle but important ways.

I’ve enjoyed making new kinetic work for this show - watch this space for sneak peaks soon!

✨

Participating Artists:

ceramics


eminehijos


contemporaryceramics ceramicartists studiopottery artinlondon undergrowth exhibitionseason ceramicscommunity

12/12/2025

Throwback Friday :- this time last year I was preparing to box up my swarm of ceramic microorganisms ready for the installation of Oddkin at SOIL: The World at Our Feet at . Some of these critters have also since made an appearance in my latest animated short, Dirty Secret, which opens in Porto in February 2026 .

Image

08/12/2025

Soils Turn: A Field Guide to Artistic Earthly Engagements was officially launched on Saturday in Berlin. I am so delighted to be included in this very comprehensive survey of 175 contemporary creative practices that engage with soil material, soil memories, soil sites and soil creatures.

“It is a tribute to the diversity and endurance of earthly artistic agendas by, for and with artists, curators, educators, researchers, community activists and concerned planetary citizens committed to soil” says its co-editor Dr Alexandra Toland

Many congratulations and gratitude to and for this beautiful tome and the hours of hard work that brought it to fruition. The layout and images are gorgeous, and the book’s paper buttery in my hands. I can’t wait for some quiet time over Christmas to settle down and read all the articles by a slew of great writers too. What a treat.