Fiona Kelly Report on Ceramic Art London 2011

Report from Fiona Kelly

Ceramic Art London, 2011

My annual trip to Ceramic Art London 25-27 Feb. 2011 was, once again, a most enjoyable and informative experience. There were quite a few changes in the potters exhibiting and the Discovery Programme had a more focused theme than in previous years. Of the 78 stands some 25 were new exhibitors and 10 hailed from Korea or Japan (though several working in the UK), a large proportion had London workshops (21 of 78), but as always there was a wide variety of work on show.

First off on the Friday were tours of the clay and glass facilities for MA students at the Royal College of Art, which became more relevant as the talks progressed as most of the speakers had studied at the RCA in recent years. The space per student seemed somewhat limited, only to be expected in Central London, but the provision of equipment, particularly for the glass students, was impressive.

The first talk of the Discovery Programme was Katherine Morling (RCA MA student) and Susan O’Byrne (Edinburgh MA) talking about their early professional practice. Katherine Morling emphasised the need to apply for everything – she got funding from the Arts Council for a larger kiln; and the need to follow up contacts – while a student at the RCA she made oyster shells for Bond Street jewellers windows which helped with her funding. She’s always sketching and keeps a photo diary of all her work. She emphasised the need to have contracts with shops/galleries so there isn’t confusion over sales/ownership. Her work has moved into the fine art market and she is represented by the Long and Ryle Gallery. Amazing progress since graduating from Falmouth in 2003 (see her website!).

Susan O’Byrne had a more challenging path to where she is now, but gave a very entertaining account of her early workshops in the countryside outside Edinburgh with no floors or ceilings. Animals were dominant in her BA work, she learnt more about them studying dead animals at the Veterinary College, and she then won a travel bursary and went to Africa where she studied cheetahs and zebras, which featured in her MA show. She moved into a shared studio space in Glasgow and has found that more supportive and gives better access to equipment. A Creative Scotland grant helped to buy a large trolley kiln, essential for firing her large, very delicate animals (see Ceramic Review 248 for making details). She emphasised how easy it would be to give up on ceramics, it is not an easy choice. She has been encouraged by residencies at Edinburgh Zoo and in East Germany and she now supplements her income teaching workshops for people with learning disabilities. Her stand at CAL showed her latest project making life sized birds which seemed to be well received, contrasting with her previous larger than life animals.

On Day 2 there were four talks looking at different approaches to production. First off Louisa Taylor who only graduated from Bath Spa University in 2003. She had concentrated on salt glaze in a gas kiln at college, but on graduating went to work in Lincolnshire as a self employed potter. The space was cheap but the kiln was unknown and the pottery and flat upstairs freezing cold. After a bleak year, when she supplemented her income by teaching workshops in schools she applied to do an MA at the RCA 2004-6. She researched “fine dining” and needed to sort out her glazes for an electric kiln. Her “multi” collection at her MA show demonstrated her dedication to excellence, stacking functional forms with extravagant handles. In 2008 she got a Crafts Council Development Award which enabled her to buy a bigger kiln for her studio in Deptford and in 2009 she was awarded the Batch Production prize at the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke.

Teaching one day a week at Brighton University has enabled her to carry out extensive colour testing which married to her interest in fine dining pieces produced in the past led to the “Oriole” supper set which takes its colours from a supper set in Stoke City Museum, exhibiting a modern twist on an old theme for serving food elegantly. This study will be taken further in her current project with York Museum. She also has a book (70,000 words) on Tools and Techniques coming out in the summer and has been doing free lance colour trend prediction work for the last few years. All this has taken it toll, she hasn’t had a holiday in 4 years, so next year she plans to take a break for her wedding! A truly exhausting 8 years.

After lunch Sue Pryke exhausted us further with her whirlwind career in the world of mass production (as well as having four children). Leaving school without much idea of what to do she went to work for a production thrower in Lincolnshire, then went on to college, but found that throwing was not really for her and discovered plaster and the lathe. During her MA at the RCA she won the student design award and went on to work for Wedgewood. She uses sketches, computer graphics, foam and plaster models to create and present her designs. In 1996 she joined the IKEA design team – her 365 range has been in production since and is the most produced range of tableware in the world. She has also designed plastics, metal, glass and melamine for IKEA and done small scale production projects with Hornsea, the Conran shop and Heals. Most recently she has been Design Manager for Sainsburys. These companies are so commercially driven that they use trend prediction agencies to predict what colours/patterns/styles/textures will be on trend in 2-3 years time. The design team are not expected to create anything new, just tweak designs/colours, etc. She attends Trend Shows – Ambiente in Germany and Maison in Paris are some of the best, and does a lot of snooping in other shops to make sure their designs are on trend. As most large scale ceramic production is based in the far east these big companies have sourcing offices in the area to oversee production. Then they have press events for launching new ranges in store. Sue has recently left Sainsburys and is working free lance again.

Tilla Waters talked next of her and John’s life as small batch production potters. They both trained in Fine Art before going to work with Rupert Spira as apprentices. He had very exacting standards and they learnt one thing in very great depth – batch production, but did not feel they had found their personal voice; unlike those studying ceramics at art school who are encouraged to explore all avenues. At their pottery in Wales James concentrated on throwing and Tilla did the decorating. They encountered lots of technical problems, and felt they were trying too many ideas. After the birth of their child they reined in the variety of work produced, concentrating on their “fine line” decoration before expanding again into work with a more painterly nature, with a balanced composition coming to their work. Tilla now has her own wheel and throws again as well.

For selling they suffered many knock backs from galleries and now do 2 trips to London each year to Origin and Ceramic Art London, always sending out lots of email invitations. They enter lots of Ceramic competitions, for which images are very important and they are always upgrading their website.

Finally Chris Keenan took to the stage. He was an actor until he was 35. He had met Edmund du Vaal and bought a couple of his pots in Sheffield, just because he liked them – then in 1994 he decided he needed a change in career direction and contacted Edmund who took him on as an apprentice. He wanted to create objects that would be used and loved and live in someone’s home – he wanted to throw and started with porcelain. He had his first show in 1996 and his own studio by 1998 – career building which he never felt he had as an actor.

In 2005 he was asked by Habitat to design a Japanese inspired range of table ware, these went into production and he went to Japan to see the production. This all went well because of very clear communications, and the work was different enough from his own small batch production work – people would buy at Habitat and then come to him for the “real thing”. His most recent project has been with 60/40 Starting Point Series II, a site specific work for a dance studio in SE1. He started with three thrown, porcelain forms, a column, a cone and a sphere and produced several of each in three colours. He constructed a small cupboard with instructions to students/teachers passing by to use the shapes contained within to create a structure on the shelf above. A camera was positioned opposite the site and each participant was instructed to take a photograph of their creation. His “Continuing Drama” gave him over 900 images, some of which he shared with us – an amazing interaction. He again stressed the importance of applying for opportunities – he is currently benefitting from a years sponsorship from American Express with business mentoring.

Sunday was a quieter day. Paul Scott, famous for his “willow pattern” variations, told us about his involvement in a huge mural project in Hanoi, Vietnam, initiated by an artist to brighten up a 6km concrete wall along the main highway into the city. The project has created 100 jobs locally with the regeneration of a mosaic business; sections of the wall are sponsored by local businesses and foreign companies/embassies. He took an image from Vietnamese ceramic history – prunus with cracked ice – enlarged it and went to Vietnam to watch the production and initial installation.

His Cumbrian Blues have print at the forefront of his ceramics. His first plate was a fantasy landscape based on Sellafield, as a joke, in 1996. They sold and further jokes followed – Seascale Pigeon in 2000. During his doctorate he studied the blue and white pottery of the 1700 & 1800s, which were printed from engravings. He does his own screen printing onto manufactured plates, tureens, etc, some of which are antique and some bought off ebay. Recently he has been working with a Danish potter Ann Linnemann, she produces the ware and he decorates it, and he has been firing his work in a salt glaze kiln and adding gold to lift the work. The closure of Spode really saddened him and he produced a series of pieces to commemorate its passing. www.cumbrianblues.com

Finally, Annie Turner talked about her work produced in her Peckham studio but inspired by the tidal estuary in Suffolk where she grew up and sailed with her father on the river. The meanders in the mud and fragments of manmade structures that remain in the creeks inspire her, and she takes her palette from the bleak, grey but beautiful landscape in winter. She has produced a series of spoons, some very large, igniting memory, with fossils, shells and feathers impressed; ladders feature – a record of time passing. The discovery of the Sutton Hoo informed some of the latter, as well as the sluices and grills along the river. Her father died in 2003 and she made a series called “sinkers” – net forms made from very fine coils, forms which she still works with today, pushing the work to collapse in the firing. Poetry is important to her inspiration and she read us two poems which she related to specific sculptures. A quiet ending to an exhausting weekend.

Courses, the V & A and the British Museum

As I was up in London for the full three days for Ceramic Art London I was able to use some of the quiet time in the Discovery Programme to pop into the V&A. I had already visited the new Ceramics and Glass Gallery (Rooms 140-145) when at CAL in 2010, but this was a chance to take a look at the Study Galleries which only re-opened last summer. There is an abundance of pots of every type (around 26,000) – shelves, carefully laid out and beautifully lit so it is possible to see a large part of the collection even though they are in close proximity to each other – see teapot photo. There is much there to stimulate new designs/shapes/colourways. If you can’t get to see the collection there are great images on the V&A website.

By chance I heard of the London Potters visit to the British Museum to view the Percival David Collection on the Monday following CAL, and was able to book a ticket. We were shown round by the Ceramics Curator, Jessica Harrison-Hall. Prior to 2007 the Percival David Collection of Chinese Ceramics had been housed in Gordon Square, but it had become too expensive to house it there and the collection was offered to the British Museum who fortunately, due to restructuring, had space to house and exhibit the full collection. All 1,700 pots are on display and all the pots are detailed on the website. The bulk of the collection is from the Sung, Ming and Qing periods but there are examples of work from 400-1900 AD, the finest pieces displayed in the central cases, the lesser items around the walls. We had pointed out to us the Sung Ru wares produced in the late 11^th Century, with their jade like glaze. Other pieces of white ware, coal fired upside down with metal rims to cover the unglazed rims, Jun wares produced for the Forbidden City, and early Ming 1403-24 monochrome coloured ware in copper red, yellow and blues. There is a lovely collection of “Palace” bowls with varying blue and white designs, and a group of pots decorated with images and verse. One of the most interesting items pointed out to us was a scroll dating from 1728 which is part of a palace inventory for their ceramics, each item beautifully reproduced in 2D – and thought to be one of 12 scrolls to record the full palace inventory. There appear to be several free talks available throughout the year open to the public led by the curator, and I would highly recommend a visit to the British Museum if you get some free time in London.

While at CAL I met up with a couple of my tutors from Goldsmiths’ College (30 years ago).

Jill Fanshawe Kato told me of about a couple of courses she’s running at

Coombe Farm Studios in Devon – Inspired by Nature 10-15 April, 2011 and Creative Clay 9-11 September, 2011. See www.coombefarmstudios.com

Lisa Hammond has recently moved her workshops from London to Kigbeare Pottery. She has two potters from Japan coming to take master classes in May and July.

Ken Matsuzaki: lecture 27^th May, workshop 28^th -30^th May

Rizu Takahashi: workshop 21^st-24^th July, lecture and tea ceremony 22^nd July

See www.lisahammond-pottery.co.uk for details.

I also met up with Gill and Roger Bettle – ex of Bettles Gallery in Ringwood. They are hoping to organise another Hungry Bowl Lunch in November 2011. Any potters who would like to contribute a bowl, which will be filled with lunch and sold to make money to support water aid in Africa can contact them on 01425 489350, email gill@bettles.net, or check the details on www.bettles.net.