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.
Jane is a self-taught ceramicist and began coiling and smoke firing over 30 years ago. She worked for many years as a lecturer in art specialising in ceramics and finds inspiration in neolithic landscapes and artefact. Living on the Somerset/ Wiltshire border provides rich source material.
The meditative simplicity of coiling is a fundamental part of her practice. Jane is fascinated by the universality of clay and how it lies at the heart of the human experience. She travelled widely in Africa researching the spiritual use of clay and visiting remote pottery communities, running workshops in the Namibia and Kalahari deserts with funding from the British Council.
Linda studied sculpture at Cheltenham College of Art where James Campbell, her inspirational teacher, encouraged her to experiment and form her ideas in clay. Then came an opportunity through potter William Newland to work with the sculptor Beth Blik, who encouraged her to gain an Art Teachers Certificate at The Institute of Education, London University. Whilst teaching in Winchester, she set up her studio making domestic ware, selling in galleries in London and throughout Britain.
John Higgins has a degree in 3D Design / Ceramics from the College of Art Wolverhampton, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Art Education, from Sussex University. Throughout his career in education, he has continued to make his own ceramics. He has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally.
Being brought up close to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has been a gift and an education to James from a very young age. The aesthetic of Barbara Hepworth’s work is almost ingrained in him, as though it were the basis of his consciousness of texture, proportion, line and form. After completing a foundation course at Dewsbury Art College, James spent two weeks in the ceramics department working with renowned Raku Ceramist David Roberts. He was immediately drawn to clay as a material. Later, upon graduation from Loughborough and then the Royal College of Art in 2001, James set up a studio in London for several years before returning to his native Yorkshire in 2005.
Vanessa's work is influenced by natural patterns, colours and forms found in and beside the sea. Over time Vanessa has developed her own technique of using slip as a resist and for texture to pattern her sawdust fired pots.
Tanya Gomez is a celebrated ceramist renown for her porcelain vessels in her signature lustrous colours.
With an MA in Ceramics from the Royal College of Art, Tanya’s process is practice led. Developed from traditional methods and disciplines Tanya has honed her skills over the last 15 years and uses dynamic throwing, cutting and assembling techniques to create large cylindrical shapes. Impactful both individually and as a group, her vessels create expressive, vivid landscapes and fluid, architectural forms.
