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.
Alistair studied ceramics at Bath Academy of Art and set up his first pottery studio in Gloucestershire in 1978, producing thrown reduction fired stoneware for a range of companies. While continuing with his own making he later took on the running of the studio ceramics department at The Royal Forest of Dean College and instigating a series of potters conferences.
Gaby’s current focus is making saggar-fired, wheel-thrown pots. What originally drew her to this type of making was the interplay between the highly controlled form, and smooth, polished, surface texture of the piece on the one hand; and the ‘seemingly’ random nature of the surface marks created by smoke and metallic, chemical reactions, on the other.
Jennifer works from her studio on the edge of Dartmoor in South Devon - a quiet space to develop her practice. She makes vessels inspired by ancient potters who remained closely attuned to their natural environment.
Vessels are hand-built from black, red, or white stoneware clays, using pinch and coil methods to preserve every mark and impression in the soft material. Using only a few simple tools, the process is slow and rhythmic. Surfaces are coated with thin layers of slips and glazes. The pattern left by the pinching process is accentuated as the glaze pools into the hollows. The colours are subtle, with occasional flashes of vibrant colour, all to be found within nature’s palette. Pieces may be fired several times, until a particular quality of colour and texture is achieved.
For this new exhibition, Jane will be showing a group of hemispherical double walled bowls mixed with different organic and man-made materials collected randomly, each a metaphor for memory and words. Using combinations of press moulding, coiling and slabbing processes before burnishing the surface, her pieces are then low fired and then refined with sandpaper followed by a higher temperature firing.
