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

Talking Pots | Svend Bayer | Enormous Dish

June 13, 2024June 22, 2022 by Jay

This enormous dish is thrown from 30 pounds of clay! Svend Bayer reveals the inspiration behind the decoration of this wonderful charger and his happy discovery of the affects of his wood fired kiln on a kaki glaze.

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

Celadon

September 27, 2021 by Jay

What colour do you see, when you look at the heart of this celadon pot by Svend Bayer? Between the scallop shells, where the warm, yellow-grey glaze cools and illumes into this beautiful glassy pool. Do you see green, or do you see blue? Celadon is a complicated colour word (are there any that are … Read more

Talking Pots | Svend Bayer | Monumental Jars

June 15, 2024September 7, 2021 by Jay

In this film Svend Bayer explains how he constructs these imposing large jars. Achieving these dramatic glaze effects on such a large pot is fraught with danger and pitfalls. Svend discusses the glaze surface and describes how the beautiful ‘chunning’ effect occurs.

An Embarrassment of Riches

June 10, 2021June 8, 2021 by Jay

But what he had achieved, agreed Gil Darby, late curator of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, matched the finest Sung Dynasty pottery held in international collections. After six years shipwrecked on the ‘Isle of Despair’, some 40 miles from the mouth of the Orinoco river, Robinson Crusoe fashions himself a masted canoe and … Read more

Exhibition | Svend Bayer | His Final Show

June 15, 2024May 29, 2020 by Jay

On Saturday 21st March 2020, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham opened Svend Bayer’s final exhibition, with work that represented the very best he has made over the last three years. Bayer, 74, had been a potter for over 50 years and said that these pots were the last he would ever make. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the gallery was unable to receive visitors but set up the show nevertheless and it went on to become the most successful exhibition that both the gallery and Svend Bayer had ever had. Join Max Waterhouse in an exhibition walk-though.

Documentary | Svend Bayer | Potter

June 15, 2024September 20, 2018 by Jay

Born in Uganda in 1946 to Danish parents, Svend Bayer spent his childhood in Tanganyika. It was during his time at university that Bayer discovered pottery, and a gift from his girlfriend of Bernard Leach’s A Potters Book introduced him to the pots of Michael Cardew. On leaving university Bayer wrote to Cardew, and after being invited for an interview, was taken on.

Bayer took inspiration from the village potteries in Southeast Asia, streamlining their practices and using his focus and determination to produce pots at high speed to fill his huge kiln. His work is held in major collections worldwide. He has received the John Ruskin award, held workshops all over the world and had residencies in America & Australia.