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.
Adam Frew creates functional porcelain pieces and large one-off pots. His pieces are clean, traditional, forms thrown on the potters wheel that subtly show the makers hand and create a sense of life from the craftmanship of his work.
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.
Annabel was born in Germany and spent several years of her childhood in Egypt before coming to England in 1956. She discovered clay at Farnham Art School on Saturday morning classes in the early 1960s. After leaving school in 1967, she attended Winchester Art School, where she was introduced to conceptual art and concrete poetry, and then Croydon College of Art. She went on to gain a BA(Hons) in Sociology and a PhD in Lesbian History at Essex University, then introduced and taught Lesbian Studies at Birkbeck College for two years. In her early 40s, she returned to her first love of clay, as one of the initial students on the City Lit Ceramics Diploma course in 1989.
Before Tony established his own studio in 1988, he studied ceramics and then worked in the ceramic industry in Stoke on Trent (including as a designer for Coalport China, part of Wedgwood). His background in the industry gave him a broad appreciation of ceramics and techniques. He is interested in the art ware produced by Royal Doulton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also fascinated by the work of French potters such as Clement Massier.
Sean's love of slipware first began whilst attending the studio pottery course at Harrow College of Art in the late 1980s. Now 30 years and three workshops later he is still making slipware. Since 2007, after moving from London, Sean has been working in an old converted stone barn in Southern Brittany, France.
Tim works from his studio/gallery and garden in an East Devon village, making and curating exhibitions and occasionally writing. It’s a combination of the immersion in his local environment with the many invitations to exhibit/lecture around the world that has influenced his work for well over forty years. Some of Tim’s favourite adventures have been in China, India, Australia - and many times in Japan, which has reconnected him with his family history in that country, which stretches back almost 150 years.
