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.
Claire creates decorative smoke-fired pots. She chooses to use porcelain due to its strong resistance to wild temperature changes during the smoke-firing process. Her pots are not functional nor suitable for holding water due to the porous quality of the unglazed burnished clay which is necessary for smoke-firing.
Emily mostly works with a red stoneware clay that fires to a rich dark brown, with iron speckles showing through the glaze. She occasionally works with porcelain as the white body is ground for wonderful bright glazes. Most of the glazes contain barium and copper, a combination which give rise to interesting matt green glazes in an electric kiln.
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.
Sophie MacCarthy has always been drawn to random scatterings of leaves on the ground. Scatter and flow, rhythm and movement are consistent themes in the decoration of her earthenware pieces, along with a bold and joyous approach to colour.
Gilles makes a variety of functional and one –off thrown stoneware pieces. His forms are freely manipulated on the potter’s wheel, some are altered and joined to construct taller larger pieces, other have incised marks applied to the soft clay revealing a subtle and tactile quality to the work, carrying a sense of captured sculptural movement.
Christine-Ann trained at Harrow School of Art and Technology with Mick Casson (1971-73), then worked with David Leach. In London, she started her own workshop as a member of the Barbican Arts Group (1975-83) and in 1976 became a Selected Member of the Craftsmen Potters Association and the Society of Designer Craftsmen. She now works from her home, a converted chapel near Frome in Somerset.
