Contemporary Ceramics gallery and shop exhibits the greatest collectable names in British ceramics along with the most up and coming artists of today. Our distinguished makers are all carefully selected members of the Craft Potters Association.
All of our makers are members of the Craft Potters Association and each of them have a story to tell.
Terry was born in Abergele in North Wales and is a graduate of the seminal Harrow Ceramics course, where he was taught by Victor Margie and Mick Casson. He worked with Denise and Rosemary Wren in Surrey before returning to North Wales in 1978 where he set up a studio with his wife Bev Bell-Hughes in Llandudno Junction.
His work is primarily in thrown, high-fired domestic pots, reflecting influences from both Oriental and British country ware.
Nicola’s pottery is the culmination of 35 years making ceramics since studying Painting at Central School of Art and training at Aldermaston Pottery with Alan Caiger-Smith. She continues to work in tin-glaze, having perfected six main colours from vibrant coral and yellow through vivid greens and blues to soft purples. Her brushwork designs are inspired by the natural world, predominantly leaves, flowers, fruits and birds also sea creatures that all dance over the pearl white surface.
Jane is a self-taught ceramicist and began coiling and smoke firing over 30 years ago. She worked for many years as a lecturer in art specialising in ceramics and finds inspiration in neolithic landscapes and artefact. Living on the Somerset/ Wiltshire border provides rich source material.
The meditative simplicity of coiling is a fundamental part of her practice. Jane is fascinated by the universality of clay and how it lies at the heart of the human experience. She travelled widely in Africa researching the spiritual use of clay and visiting remote pottery communities, running workshops in the Namibia and Kalahari deserts with funding from the British Council.
John has been making stoneware pottery in the North Lancashire village of Yealand Redmayne for forty years. The firing process requires a temperature of 1320c, and a smoky/reducing atmosphere in the kiln, which results in rich glaze colours and exciting unpredictable effects on the pots. Most of the pots are classically simple functional shapes, thrown on the wheel, but John occasionally alters the freshly thrown pots to produce one of the signature forms for which he is well known.
Chris Keenan has been making pots for almost twenty-five years. Thrown and turned by hand on the wheel using Limoges porcelain, he specialises in pieces for interior spaces – designed for functional use and for decoration.
John Pollex has carved his own niche into the world of studio pottery. Translating his interest in Zen calligraphy into the spontaneous and mesmerising display of colour his work is known for today.
