Dr Natasha Mayo is a figurative ceramist, writer and senior lecturer at Cardiff School of Art. She is a member of the Royal Anthropology Institute, the Folklore Society and trained in Oral History techniques. Her ceramic practice has achieved national and international acclaim with work in private collections in the USA, Korea, Japan, Belgium, France and most recently selected as part of the renowned ceramics archive at the International Ceramics Studio, Hungary (ICS).

A regular contributor to conferences/symposia in the field, Natasha was guest editor for 'Ceramics and Society' dedicated to the ceramic figure, co-devised the British Arts Council funded 'Fragmented Figure' conference and exhibition, and devised the associated website and artists interviews. She held a subsequent position as review's editor for the Interpreting Ceramics online journal and has published over 40 articles in journals such as Ceramics Art and Perception, Kerameiki Techni, Ceramic Review, Interpreting Ceramics, CCQ, Artist newsletter (AN).

OCCUPATIONAL FOKLORE: (2024 - ) Exploring performative narratives in ceramics practice, stories that arise from the sense-scape of the studio and continue into inform the life that surrounds it. Herein lies the discipline’s occupational folklore, shared stories held in fingertips and extended through the body’s movement into the world. An archiving of embodied encounters though oral histories and epistolary narratives including the interweaving of clay practice with: Neurodiversity / Grief / Permaculture / Diaspora / Trauma Recovery / Trail-running / Midwifery / Child Care / Folklore / Wellbeing / Dementia …to name a few.   

In 2024, the project collaborated with Dr Helen Walsh at the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA), York, to bring artists represented in the exhibit ‘The Wall of Women’ into discussion about their practice, to weave narratives within and outwards from the collection. The result innovates ways to expand accessability in the museum sector.

The original Flightlines recordings and these CoCA conversations can be found on Spotify under 'Flightlines' launched as part of CoCA's anniversary celebrations and International Women's Day 2025.  

Contributors in the project include: Sarah Christie, Phoebe Cummings, Helen Felcey, Ina Kaur, Sharon Griffin, Susan Hall, Claire Loder, Sam Lucas, Hannah McAndrew, Mandy Parslow, Sara Radstone, Jacqui Ramrayka, Stephanie Rozene and Emilie Taylor.                                            

Conference Presentations:                                          

Mayo, N., 2025, The Figure and Folk: Constructing Ideas at the ICS Residency', as part of the International Ceramics Festival

Mayo, N., Walsh, H., 2025, 'Occupational Folklore: Archiving Embodied Encounters', as part of 'Narrating Lives: International Conference on Storytelling, (Auto)Biography and (Auto)Ethnography', London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research.

Mayo, N., Lucas, S., Norton, K., 2024, ‘Small Talk:  Speech, Gesture and Clay' as part of 'The Performing Object', Royal Holloway.      

Publications:                                            

Mayo, N., 2026, 'The Pedagogy of Small Talk: Crafting Narratives' as part of 'Radiacal Ontologies' ed. Adams, D., Routledge 

Mayo, N, Lucas, S, Norton, K, 2025, Uncovering an Occupational Folklore of Ceramics: Small Stories Found in the Spaces Between Word, Gesture and Clay (pending)

Mayo, N., O’Neill, CJ., 2025, ‘Small Stories Arising Between Spoken Word and Text, in ‘Writing Partnerships’ ed. Norton, L., and Aiken, V., pub, Routledge

Mayo, N., O’Neill, CJ., 2022,'Lives Lived with Clay: The Bits Left Out of the Story' pub. NCECA Journal: 53.                                  

Ceramics, Figurative Ceramics, Oral Histories, Folk Art, Folk-Art and the Senses, Oral Histories, Sensory Anthropology