African colour behind the porcelain

Dust and fragments of clay, the remnants of hard work, lie sprinkled across the marble tiles. Fine sculptured pieces line the room, with buckets of paint filling the room with a pungent aroma.
The wooden table forms the epicentre of the studio, serving as the platform for the starting part of the work. This studio has, for the best part of a decade, been the arena for the creation of almost 100 ceramic works.
The artist, Noreen Ramsay has spent long years perfecting her craft. A quick glance across the patio to her studio adjacent to her Cratloe home will normally show a dim bulb, as she toils away through the night.
Having grown up in the heartland of Zambia, she developed a love of imagery and creativity. Having trained in medicine, her  burst of creativity took over, in a career-defining turning point of her life.
“I think it did influence it because I was outdoors a lot,” she said. “In Africa, the colour and textures are very strong. You get these vibrant plants, so I think as a child, it put me very much in touch with the physical world.”
As part of an exhibition opening in Limerick this Friday, she has found herself working towards a deadline for the last few weeks. She initially trained as a doctor, before art gave her a new lease of life upon her return to Ireland in 1995.
“I had an opportunity to think about what I wanted to do,” she said. “I decided, at that point, to make a break from medicine and explore the art.”
She has built up quite an impressive resume since, having graduated with a first class honours degree in ceramic design from the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2001. She has entered numerous exhibitions, collecting prizes along the way and having her work on display in places such as Collins’ Barrack, Thomond Park and the National Botanic Gardens.
“It’s always a highlight to get your piece into a good exhibition,” she said. “But what I have enjoyed the most is seeing the gradual progression over the years and finding new ways of expressing myself. That’s been a gradual process over the years.”
She has a distinctive trait to her work, with a huge emphasis on symbolism. In her own words, contemplation of her work is like reading an icon – “slowly deciphering the layers of meaning hidden within”.
Her most recent work derives inspiration from the gargantuan stone circle at Grange in County Limerick. She describes their appeal as having “enduring quality and stones that have been selected, moved and carefully placed in position with such effort and care thousands of years ago hold a special fascination”.
Made from a combination of porcelain with textiles and glass, the work seeks to convey the mystical aspect of stone circles and standing stones. “In my view, they are almost sentinels, or guides, to other worlds,” she said.
“It’s new work, so it’s a divergence away from what I’ve been doing before,” she said. “I have been working in some textiles. It is the first attempt to combine textile and porcelain in one piece. Up to now, I’ve made textile pieces. This work is the first time of bringing it together.”
Speaking about the exhibition, she described it as “a group of people working as individuals in Clare” who form a network of support, organising group projects together.
“It highlights the people that are working in the area,” she said. “It brings them all together in one exhibition. It’s important to show people in Limerick and Clare the creative talent that is there.”
Noreen’s work can be viewed at the ceramic exhibition at the Raggle Taggle Consortium in Limerick from Friday until Thursday, December 6.