Forms of Expression

At a friend’s kitchen table, Stevie McKean first shaped the forms that would become her candlesticks for the TOAST Autumn Winter 2026 collection. A bag of clay and a sense of play were her only tools, and she had no clear end goal. “We weren't making things to sell or trying to realise some big idea,” she recalls. “We were just hanging out and playing.”

Stevie has learned to follow her intuition, letting creativity unfold naturally rather than limiting herself to a singular path. Throughout school, guided by a natural affinity for making, she signed up for several extracurricular classes, including an evening ceramics course at a university in Philadelphia. “The arts weren’t well-funded at my school, but I felt like being creative was the only thing that made sense for me.” Stevie went on to study at the university, pursuing an arts degree that allowed her to experiment with multiple disciplines. While her focus was printmaking, she turned to clay as a medium for exploring sculpture. “It wasn't necessarily something I was really serious about.”

Graduating from art school, Stevie experienced a “lost feeling” which she attributes to the intensity of the studies followed by a sudden lack of structure. During this period, ceramics reemerged as a route for returning to making. “Once I started working with clay again, I became kind of fixated on it. I bought a pottery wheel at the start of the pandemic, and I just never stopped.”

Six years on, having founded New Talk Studio, Stevie retains that same sense of excitement about clay’s possibilities. “With ceramics, I still feel like a novice because it’s so endless, and I’m always learning from my community, my coworkers, my studio-mates.” It’s a sentiment familiar to many potters: ceramics is a world anchored in generosity, with knowledge passed freely between makers. “There’s so much information to gather, and it feels like you’re never going to come to a point of completion.” For Stevie, this is part of the appeal. The journey is enriched by the feeling that there is always something more to learn.

As someone who approaches her work with such openness, Stevie is also realistic about what being a working potter demands. There are periods of experimentation, and others of repetition. In creating a body of sculptural candlesticks for TOAST, each similar in form yet subtly unique, she has cultivated a kind of “muscle memory” – an instinctive understanding of the gestures and movements that give rise to each form.

The candlesticks are hand-built rather than wheel-thrown, though Stevie values both techniques. “Hand-building is a lot more meditative, more tactile. You're really creating this relationship with the clay,” she explains. “Throwing is more technical and fast-paced.” Having recently relocated from Philadelphia to southern Maine, Stevie now teaches community throwing classes while running New Talk from a shared studio. “It's a really connected space. I'm constantly being inspired by what others are making,” she says. “Working among other ceramicists and teaching people who are just starting out encourages me to try new things.”

Stevie has noticed a visual shift in her work since moving to a more rural setting. In Philadelphia, she was immersed in a vibrant creative community, and the ceramics she made reflected that. “My pieces were very colourful and energetic because I was influenced by my urban surroundings.” In Maine, where she spends more time in nature, her palette is comparatively subdued. “Things have become more muted. I’m pulling in colours and textures from the world around me, so there are a lot of greys, browns and mossy greens.”

The evolution of her practice is something Stevie is embracing, rather than trying to fit herself into a box. Currently, this means allowing her work to flow and shift organically. “When I started, I was very focused on creating a business. I wanted to refine my practice and make work to sell. But I also want to express myself creatively and convey something about the world around me and how I connect to it.” In her new environment, she is finding a balance between input and output – enjoying daily experiences without the pressure to transform them into tangible art. “I think all creative people have an internal confidence and knowing,” she adds. “There needs to be reflective internal time as well, and an understanding that inspiration comes in waves. There’s an excitement to that.”