Cyan Clayworks is a Community Interest Company, set up in 2012 by Fiona Thompson and Chris Donnelly. Established ceramic makers, they have both taught widely in colleges, community and healthcare settings and other venues. They have worked in a variety of locations and studios over the years. The studio began at Beaverhall Studio (now closed) as an open access space for all things ceramic, and relocated to 5 Commercial Street in 2023. The space is self contained with a teaching area, their own workspace and a small exhibition space at the front. The studio shop is open most Fridays and some Saturdays, and special events are held at intervals.

Photo credit for images on this page: Josh Murfitt

Fiona studied at Edinburgh College of Art (BA hons) and the University of Sunderland (M.Phil), and has been making ceramics since the mid 1990s. Her work often explores souvenirs, tourism, and museum collections and themes of nostalgia and memory. She handbuilds her non-functional vessels using coilbuilding slab construction or pinching techniques, building up layered surfaces with slips, glazes and decals. Over the last couple of decades she had taken part in national and international artist residencies, written for publication and exhibited her work widely.

Chris is predominantly a tableware maker. After studying at Alberta University of the Arts and Nova Scotia College of Art in Canada, he has travelled, taught and exhibited widely, moving to Scotland in 2002. He makes pots for the table and kitchen, mainly on the wheel, although sometimes his pots may be slip cast or jigger-jollied. The surface of his work varies from a rich palette of glaze colours, to lino printed pattern and photographic decals. Always keen to keep on learning and developing new approaches to ceramic practice, he often uses a 3D printer to make models for plaster moulds for slip casting.