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.
Sarah makes functional pieces for the home. She has multiple influences including English Delftware and East Asian celadon ware. Her work is also inspired by coastal landscapes, plants, paint colours and fabrics. Soft natural colours are a strong characteristic of Sarah’s work.
Jitka was born in Prague. She studied medicine and worked as an anatomist. In 1985, she moved to Britain and studied ceramics at Croydon College of Art and Design and Stone Masonry at City of Bath College. She set up her studio in London with the help of a Crafts Council grant. She lives and works in Bristol.
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.
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.
Jo specialises in wheel-thrown porcelain and works from her studio in Hackney, East London. Her practice includes hand-making a fine porcelain design range, lighting and unique objects. Her individual approach to wheel-thrown ceramics, where high-fired porcelain often appears paradoxically to be fresh off the wheel, balances softness with rigidity, smoothness with weight and tactility.
