Layla Simner-Lock is an artist. She became first intrigued by craft on Foundation at UCA Farnham in 2018. From her roots in fine art, she came to ceramics out of a desire to create objects that lasted, and in a strange turn of events now routinely destroys her own work.

Intrigued by perceptions of ceramics in the wider art world, her work aims to subvert people’s expectations of the medium, whether that be through using unconventional materials or by creating pieces that intrigue and deceive. Inspired by the traditional storytelling aspect of ceramics, many of her pieces are genuine and honest “diary entries” displaying her research and the world around her. Similarly, her background in 2D visual arts led to many of her sculptural pieces being direct translations of drawings, the final piece being a depiction of this translation rather than the subject itself, a kind of contemporary surrealism.

A studio internship with Shahpour Pouyan during his residency at the Kenneth Armitage Foundation in 2021 left her with the material knowledge necessary to construct complex structures in clay, inspiring her to move away from the traditional vessel and explore more sculptural forms.

Simner-Lock’s current work is born out of a recent obsession with weaponry. She explores the human attraction to weaponry and how sometimes it can be exploited, while also reflecting on her own naive view of weaponry, as a 22 year old woman who’s current most violent experience with a weapon is chopping wood. Her studio practice involves creating fantasy objects of violence and studying the reactions they provoke in an audiences. 

Email: laylasimnerlock@gmail.com
Instagram: @laylasimnerlockart