Fire, Wood and Clay: What’s in an Aesthetic?

January 31, 2023January 24, 2023 by Jay

There can be no denying it: there’s something about wood-firing that produces special pots. But what is it about the wood-fired aesthetic (if there even is one) that captivates? Where does our appreciation for it begin? And, perhaps most important of all: is it still relevant today? Is the wood-fired aesthetic right for our age? … Read more

Exhibition | Nic Collins

June 15, 2024April 25, 2022 by Jay

Join Max Waterhouse for a guided walkthrough of a 2022 exhibition of pots by Nic Collins.

Nic Collins is viewed as one of the leading wood-firers of his generation, continually evolving his craft, developing his firing and kiln techniques, pushing himself to the very limit to achieve the beauty that he seeks. He is an uncompromising potter who makes uncompromising pots.

Collins himself is a quiet, self-assured, self-reliant man. His pots are equally quiet, it is only when you get to know them and give them time that they begin to talk to you and tell their stories, from their calm beginnings to their frantic almost violent birth from the wood kiln. Living with them, holding and using them allows one to see and appreciate the subtle variations in form, colour and texture that are so loved and admired.

Shells in Ceramics

April 18, 2022 by Jay

Sebastian Blackie explores elusive answers to a simple question: who first used shells when firing their pots? When clay is heated to stoneware temperatures, in a kiln fired with wood, ash will combine with the clay to form a glaze. Fly ash contains the glass forming mineral silica, as well as ‘fluxes’, such as potassium, … Read more

Sake and Ceramics

November 11, 2021November 10, 2021 by Jay

‘No blossoms and no moon And he is drinking sake all alone’ Haiku by Matsuo Bashō A love of nature, and of being part of the group, are intensely important to the Japanese, so this little haiku is a picture of sadness. Sake is meant to be drunk with others, and pouring for each other … Read more

An Uncompromising Vision

August 13, 2021 by Jay

Sometimes a thing in front of you is so big you don’t know whether to comprehend it by first getting a dim sense of the whole and then fitting in the pieces, or by adding the pieces until something calls out what it is… As I sit to put finger to keyboard I am looking … Read more

Critic’s Choice | Nic Collins | Large Bottles

June 15, 2024April 30, 2021 by Jay

Goldmark Gallery’s Max Waterhouse takes a look at a selection of Nic Collins’ magnificent large bottles. Every bottle tell the story of its precarious journey from from the wheel to surviving the intense anagama firing.

Documentary | Nic Collins | Potter

June 15, 2024December 16, 2020 by Jay

Nic Collins lives and works in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. Our film shows him potting and follows him during the firing of his anagama kiln. He discusses his love of making pots, his working methods and the importance of wood-firing to his work.

‘Pots to Give and to Hold’: Why We Love Eating from Handmade Ceramics

November 4, 2020October 8, 2020 by Jay

Even the most ascetic, least material of monks has need of three things: robes, in which to clothe himself; a temple, in which to shelter himself; and a bowl, with which to feed himself.