Fire, Wood and Clay: What’s in an Aesthetic?
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
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
How the colour of light, snow and shamanic dance has shaped the Korean nation Sister Sun and Brother Moon There is an old tale in
Korea, Lee Kang-hyo tells us, is a country made of mountains, run through with rivers, and full of gentle curves. In these interview extracts we
Last Autumn, the York Museum opened the Yorkshire Tea Ceremony exhibition, showcasing the collection of the late Bill Ismay. An avid studio pottery enthusiast, Ismay
It happens in an instant. She had picked up the plastic cup from the floor and, unthinking, in one motion, lent back and let it
Richard Batterham was an exceptional potter whose like only comes along very occasionally. In 1981, Crafts magazine (No. 33) published an article by Richard Batterham,
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
Ravilious’ ceramics for Wedgwood – not as well known, perhaps, as his fine and graphic art – have become a sort of holy grail for design collectors. They are applied design at its very best; quite rare and certainly rarefied.
Geographically Clive Bowen seems more than appropriately sited as a potter – living and working at Shebbear, in the remoter Devon valleys near Great Torrington.
Each Lisa Hammond pot has a life of its own, its own sense of renewal. They all offer their own pleasures, an intimacy that adds
My pots display a lot of marks and traces of past events. To describe them in a conventional and very simplified way, they are ‘dirty’
‘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
‘I really hope that nothing I ever cook takes the attention away from any of Anne Mette’s work, but instead works with it, the two
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,
The sureness of hand and eye gives the work a childlike spontaneity only mastered through years of experience. This is the third solo exhibition of
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
‘Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of
It was Mike Goldmark who introduced me to the work of Phil Rogers, at an exhibition at the gallery about fifteen years ago. As soon
But what he had achieved, agreed Gil Darby, late curator of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, matched the finest Sung Dynasty pottery held
What is a potter’s most valued resource? Is it her supplies, her equipment? The pounds she pays for a studio space? I wager most potters
Those of you who are familiar with my book ‘An Autobiography of Sorts’ will know that the first essay I ever wrote was called ‘In
