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.
All Francis' work is thrown using stoneware clays and is reduction fired, increasingly turning to salt glaze for his desired surface. Functional pots are his main concern, pots made for use in daily life, often giving a nod towards other historical objects, not necessarily made of clay, featuring utilitarian components now ultimately defunct but repurposed as decoration. He uses a muted palette of glazes and seeks a balance between looseness and definition in his forms.
Jane trained at Camberwell College of Art and at the Royal College of Art and has won several awards for her work including the Wedgwood Scholarship for surface design.
Working across a range of making methods; throwing, jolleying, casting and hand-building, pieces are designed to stand alone or as part of a set. Colour plays a central role in Jane’s work and she is greatly inspired by patterns found in nature and landscape, notably in France the Caribbean and the Isle of Wight.
“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.
After a career in retail, Barry discovered the joy of working with clay through evening classes, and soon realised he wanted to explore further and learn as much as possible. He then gained a place on the ceramics course at the University of Westminster, Harrow.
Loretta began her practice in ceramics via a career in graphic arts, textile design and sculpture. During pregnancy, she found working on sculptural forms too heavy and moved across to ceramics. That was the start of her fascination with the medium as it allows her the freedom to explore her enduring passions of form, colour, texture and mark-making.
"In my work I explore ideas around the half-forgotten memories and images that persist from childhood – perhaps a vintage wallpaper, the stylised narrative of my Mother’s Willow Pattern plates, or the familiar shape of an opened sardine tin. My aim is to bring these elements together in a finished piece to combine a gentle nostalgia with the absolute, archival permanence of the ceramic medium."
