Covid-19 update: We are pleased to announce that the gallery and shop on Great Russell Street re-opened on Wednesday 14th April. However, if you can’t visit us in person, you can still see the pieces in this exhibition and shop online – just scroll down. Keep an eye on our website or join our mailing list on the homepage for the latest updates and to be the first to hear about exhibitions.
Matthew Chambers is an internationally recognised ceramic artist creating mesmerising sculptures that draw the eye into the deepest depth of each piece.
Matthew specialises in sculptures constructed of multiple sections built on the potter’s wheel. Inspired by visual rhythm and the beautiful repetition he witnesses in his everyday life, from beautiful structures to patterns in nature, in this exhibition Matthew reveals works that have followed a process almost the reverse of his usual way of making.
The pieces in this collection have been constructed from the inside-out and focus on bringing a heightened sense of calm and serenity with increased space between layers in subtle shades and light pastel hues.
“The mystery in the construction which often seems to grab people was never fully on my mind when I began this idea, but I always enjoy seeing the wonder in the faces of people as they experience them for the first time. Along with trying to express beauty, I also consciously focus in on this when making to keep the mystery alive and the experience intact.”
Beginning his career in 1993, as an assistant potter to Philip Wood in Somerset, UK, Matthew went on to gain a 1st class degree from Bath School of Art, and a Masters from the Royal College of Art in London, graduating in 2004. Now working on the Isle of Wight, his work has been exhibited worldwide including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the World Ceramic Centre, Korea and Homo Faber in Venice. Matthew’s work is also held in many public and private collections worldwide with museums including the National Museums Scotland, the Musee Ariana in Geneva, and the Sévres Museum Paris.
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Sue’s work draws on the quiet resilience of trees and bones—forms shaped by time, marked by fragility and carrying memories of growth and decay. Through slow, receptive hand-building, each piece develops as if guided by an internal rhythm. Textured surfaces hold lines like weathered stories, while a soft matte glaze evokes a sense of calmness.
‘My hurt, my joy, my scars, my healing, all shape the work I create in clay.’ – Sue Mundy
Jenny Southam hand builds figurative sculptures in terracotta clay. She delights in exploring colourful gestural mark-making over their surfaces. This painterly decoration aims to echo the emotional resonance of each piece.
“When I enter the studio I am searching for that serene state of absolute absorption that making and drawing can gift us, which we all wish will, in some manner, enrich our audience.” – Jenny Southam
In a career spanning nearly 50 years, ceramicist, Sophie MacCarthy has developed a unique and distinctive personal style. Through her subtle and bold use of coloured slips, painterly brushwork, stencils and wax-resist, she evokes the colours, forms and movements of the passing seasons. Often focusing on the ground, she finds beauty in the accidental compositions created by wind-blown leaves, stalks and detritus sometimes gathered around a storm drain or scattered over concrete and tarmac, juxtaposing the vibrant colours of the natural world with the gritty textures of the urban environment.
‘She has a poetic insight into the natural world’ David Whiting
Throughout his long career Peter has always sought pathways to the development of new ideas. Often this is a slow process, but sometimes a particular event speeds things along.
Partaking of two residencies in China recently, where Peter worked in porcelain at high temperatures, led him to develop a new body of work, made alongside his existing practice to which Peter is still deeply committed.
This new exhibition represents the outcome of Peter’s working practice.
'This exhibition explores objects that express a quiet equilibrium: fragile, shifting forms that exist in a state of delicate imbalance. Their stillness is easily disturbed, as if the act of holding too tightly might cause something essential to disappear. The works reflect an interest in forms that resist perfection, remaining slightly unresolved, unsettled, and quietly alive.' Akiko Hirai