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.
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.
“I aim to blur the dividing lines between art and craft. I use clay or porcelain as my canvas, creating illustrated plates for installations or vessels as sculptural displays. The themes include zoom meetings, refugees, masks, musicians, people at rest, funny faces, at the café, at the beach, at the Met, and conversations across time.” – Gail Altschuler.
Sabine completed an apprenticeship as a thrower in 1998 with Hans Joachim Grünert in Waldenburg (Sachsen) in East Germany, followed by a three-year training as a production thrower where she was introduced to wood firing. She became enthralled by the high demands of wood-firing. In 2000, she came to England to gain more experience and met fellow potter, Nic Collins who became her partner. In 2001, she moved to Devon.
David read philosophy and literature at Warwick University. Realising the lack of jobs as a philosopher, he became a potter and taught part-time in the ceramics department at Wolverhampton University for thirty years. This allowed him the space in which to continue with his personal practice. He was awarded a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. David used the inquiry within his thesis to examine the question of how he could employ the language of materiality, making, and firing (particularly raku) to critically focus on issues of personal identity.
Many of his sculptures start with a narrative that is either imagined, half remembered, carefully researched or commissioned. A love of whimsy, folk art, religious and tribal art, and his background as an illustrator, all go into the mix. His output is low and slow. Occasionally, Derek returns to a theme but, unless specifically designed as a set, every piece he creates is unique.
Anna is known for her finely wheel-thrown porcelain vases and bowls and her meticulous attention to detail. Having trained at Camberwell School of Art and the Royal College of Art, she spent time teaching in the US before returning to London. She established her ceramics workshop almost 30 years ago, which is now based in South London at her home in Sydenham.
