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.
After studying glass and ceramics at the University of Sunderland, Craig completed an MA in ceramics at the Royal College of Art. He was drawn to clay for the immediacy of its modelling properties, enabling him to realise his ideas with dynamism. His work is inspired by the elegance of a bygone era, particularly the work of cartoonists and illustrators from the 50s and 60s such as Miroslav Sasek and Ronald Searle, whose economic use of line define characters and tell stories.
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.
Maria's early creative training and work was in graphic design at a time when the industry was changing from drawing boards to computers. As her work became more computer based she realised she missed using her hands and making things, that realisation led to ceramics, initially experimenting in a shed in her garden, but later to an MA in ceramic design at Bath Spa University. Since graduating she has exhibited nationally and internationally and now works from her studio in Frome.
Toni’s work and ethos is centred around the idea of ceramics and its strong association with craft – as a material and its context within the fine art spectrum. He is interested in the history and connotations of porcelain and terracotta. The materials as symbols of trade, status, function, hierarchy; all are factors which correlate with the constant debate regarding crafts and its position within today’s society.
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.
