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.
Clive Bowen was born in Cardiff in 1943. Initially studying painting and etching at Cardiff College of Art from 1960 to 1964, Clive went on to train as an apprentice with Michael Leach at the Yelland Pottery in North Devon from 1965 until 1969. He worked alongside Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge before setting up his own pottery in 1971 when he bought a small agricultural property at Shebbear, near Holsworthy in North Devon and set up a workshop in the former farm outhouses.
Patricia has been living and working on the Isle of Skye for the past 25 years. Her work is informed and inspired by the powerful landscape of the island.
Jack has two major strands to his ceramic portfolio: hand-thrown porcelain vessels and his stoneware domestic range. Over time, he has developed and forged his own unique way of making.
With his distinctive hand-thrown porcelain vessels, Jack has honed his craft skills to working with one clay, one colouring mineral and one single firing technique. Within this simple but richly complex way of fine tuning his practice, he has found his singular creative focus. His firing technique is unique, where the space within the kiln is used creatively.
As a child, Jon loved drawing and messing about with mud. He and his brother and friends spent many joyful years roaming and exploring on the waste ground of empty housing plots. The exposed seams of soft yellow clay they discovered was perfect for making ‘weapons’ - squashed balls of clay on the ends of sticks. Although childhood has long passed, the activity has informed and inspired his approach to ceramic practice and his educational/community engagement work.
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.
Charles was born in New York City in 1939. After graduating from Union University in 1962 with a degree in English Literature, Charles spent the next three years teaching at secondary level. From 1965 to 1971 he worked for a publishing company, dividing his time between the USA and Africa. By 1972 he was juggling a variety of commitments: teaching, travelling, writing and theatre work, mostly in Kenya.
