Psiche Hughes worked as a ceramicist for over thirty years, following an earlier career as a writer, translator, and lecturer in Latin American and Comparative Literature at the University of London.
Favouring hand modelling over wheel thrown forms, her distinctive ceramic work focuses on the living world, especially birds, fruits, and vegetables. A selection of these shown in Sculpting the Earth at The Holburne Museum, 2025.
Both as a translator and ceramicist she collaborated with the artist Philip Hughes. They produced three artist’s books together working with the poet Carmen Boullosa and produced collaborative exhibitions such as Dungeness at Studio 3 Gallery, University of Kent, 2016. Her solo show at the Francis Kyle Gallery, London (2009), presented a wide-ranging body of ceramic work.
Hughes published her last book Beryl Bainbridge: Artist, Writer, Friend in 2012 with Thames & Hudson.
As Psiche Hughes is a strict vegetarian, it comes as no surprise that her ceramics concentrate mainly on vegetables. What is surprising, considering the subject matter, is the originality, craftsmanship and extreme charm of the resulting pieces.
Beryl Bainbridge, 2009
Qualifications
1976 PhD, Latin American Literature, University of London
1963 BA Literature, University of London
Teaching and Lecturing
1964-1976 Spanish, Secondary Schools, London
1976 – 2002 Latin American Literature, City Lit, London
1976 – 2002 Latin American Literature, Extramural Dept, University of London
Publications
Beryl Bainbridge: Artist, Writer, Friend, Thames & Hudson, 2012
A Dictionary of Borges, Duckworth, London, 1990
Violations, Stories by Latin American Women, Nebraska University, 1990
Translations of Latin American Literature
Jump of the Manta Ray, Epic Poem by Carmen Boullosa, Old School Press, 2004
Elysian Gardens, Epic Poem by Carmen Boullosa, Old School Press, 1997
A Ship of Fools, Cristina Peri Rossi, Readers International, 1989
Exhibitions
2016 DUNGENESS, Studio 3 Gallery, Jarman Building, Kent
2014 Transfoment des Barriques, Domaine de La Citadelle, Ménerbes, France
2013 Jumping for Joyce, Francis Kyle Gallery, London
2009 Byzantium, Francis Kyle Gallery, London
2009 Psiche Hughes, Francis Kyle Gallery, London
