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Jan Beeny - Animals from the decorative arts

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 16:03:00 GMT

We have been very quiet with our blog. Partly through furlough during lockdown and also because of the gallery's new website, which we are populating with new work each week - please check it out! https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

The gallery re-opened at the beginning of July and at the time of writing (towards the end of August) it is nice to see people beginning to venture into central London again. The British Museum opens on the 27th August https://www.britishmuseum.org/ and if you have booked tickets to visit the BM please pop in to the gallery, it will be lovely to see everyone.

Jan Beeny is taking part in the previous Bi-monthly display which was sadly disrupted as a result of lockdown. Her amazing animal sculptures are on display in the gallery and we spoke to Jan about what lies behind these benevolent animals.

Jan Beeny

"I studied ceramics at the former South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, Howard Gardens, Cardiff in the mid 1980's. For a year after my BA (Hons) degree, I worked at Cardiff City Farm, as an illustrator, also assisting with the educational tours and school visits. I returned to Howard Gardens to complete my MA ceramics.

For many busy years I combined my studio practice with teaching ceramics and art. Working with very many different people and groups who wanted to experience or study ceramics to a variety of levels.

Teaching, is very important to me, although a smaller part of my work-life at the moment, as I return to focusing on developing my own ceramics.

My peices are hand-built from sheets of clay. The sheets are wrapped and manipulated when they are dry enough to withstand handling. Basic forms emerge. I dissect, alter, rejoin, expand or contract areas by removing sections, all in order to achieve the desired animal, its position, implied movement and character.

Now the making process can slow down, as I work on and add the head, ears, a tail etc. Surface details such as colour and texture have always been important to my work. Lately, I have enjoyed using sprigs, depicting flora and fauna which I add to the piece in an attempt to integrate features of the surrounding natural world with the animal. Embedding leaves and flowers into the skin of the animal piece, as a kind of relief-tattoo.

At present my work is finished with metal oxides which highlight the distinctive features, sealed under a semi-opaque glaze and fired to a high earthenware temperature.

I am fascinated by and passionate about the decorative arts and locate my work as a ceramist within this tradition. I derive inspiration from historical and cultural objects made from a wide variety of materials, via the knowledge, skill and creativity of the maker. Specifically, I am influenced by and enjoy, 16th century embroidery, particularly stumpwork, it's so joyous and humorous, also18th century printed chinoiserie designs, Staffordshire flatback pottery and mid-20th century design, such as textile designwork by Enid Marx and ceramics by Rut Bryk. These are just a few of my points of reference.

Often I'm told that my work is humorous. I don't necessarily set out to invoke a laugh, but I would certainly be pleased to inspire a smile. "

Paul Philp - Synthesising the love of Shigaraki and Iga with St. Ives School through the restoration of old buildings

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 14:05:00 GMT

It's our great pleasure to present our current exhibition, Modern Classics by Paul Philp at Contemporary Ceramics. His unmistakable and bold forms with their subtle quality of surface texture and colour make his work both modern and classic. We took the opportunity to ask him some questions.

CC: In Modern Classics, your current exhibition with us, there are three rectangular vessels with abstracted surface decoration. With these pieces, the surface decoration acts to disrupt the form - can you tell us more about the inspiration or thought processes for these?

PP: I think that the three rectangular pieces that you mention are experiments with abstract 'Art Deco' type design.

There are times when this process can be very exhausting and something like getting the firing temperature wrong can wreck the whole thing; and so I sometimes look for another way of working that is a different kind of challenge. If I wasn't a potter I would have probably been an abstract painter but rather lack the confidence to handle strong graphic design - these pieces are a small attempt at that. The inspiration is varied. Art Deco generally, minimal abstract art of the early twentieth century, and perhaps the camouflage designs used on warships in the first world war. These pieces are much more predictable than my usual work in that they use a more manageable technical method to produce. i.e. I am not pushing my luck and taking chances that can spoil the pieces.

CC: Across the exhibition, there are distinctly different groups of forms - such as oval vessels with lugs, or rectangular vessels with square feet. Do you work in series or do you return to forms at different stages?

PP: The answer to this is both.

CC: I have read that you combine different clays and multiple fire pieces - is this true of all your work or do you treat different pieces with different approaches?

PP: Yes, this is true. I do use different clay mixes depending on the pieces that I am working on - for instance a large piece might need a rather rough pitted kind of surface and so I would add some coarse grog to the mix but a small fine piece would need a much more refined clay mix. I vary the way I treat the surfaces but the basic technique is a variation of layers of white slip fired on in several firings at about 1000 degrees centigrade, ending with a wash or a thicker coat of wood ash and china clay fired at about 1260 degrees centigrade.

CC: In an early conversation with Caroline Long you explain "There has been a tricky dichotomy in my work between refined form and surface quality as well – these are not always very easily compatible and not easy to achieve." Do you consider the quality of the surface as the form develops, does surface lead the form or are surface and form separate considerations?

PP: Many years ago I found myself faced with this seemingly unsolvable dichotomy i.e. a love of the more esoteric Japanese ceramic aesthetic - Shigaraki and Iga, and on the other hand very much being a child of the first half of the twentieth century and feeling part of the 'St Ives' modernist British tradition - Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth etc. For some years I abandoned ceramics and restored and rebuilt old buildings. I learned a lot about stone, traditional building methods, geology and so on. Although nothing was deliberately planned about this it actually led me to how I could approach my ideas for ceramics.

To answer your question re. surface and form - yes, the form and the surface finish must be in harmony with each other. For the last 25 years or more I have been absorbed with trying to synthesise the issue; that is how to combine a very interesting, natural seeming, surface quality and rather refined classic modernist forms.

CC: How do you work?

PP: How do I work? I don't quite know how to answer this - probably rather compulsively. I think that, like a lot of artists and ceramicists I am rarely satisfied with my results and therefore can't resist having another go at perfection!

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

PP: I only have one image on my studio wall. It is a building, not a pot and is as close to aesthetic perfection that I can imagine apart from some great paintings perhaps.

It is a French abbey called Senanque in the Vaucluse region, a part of France that I particularly love.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

PP: The honest answer to this question is that I can't remember - I can say that I started to be very fascinated by art by the age of fifteen and I discovered Paul Gauguin who has remained my favourite artist all these years.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

PP: Again, I don't quite know how to answer this. An artist potter certainly does have to be able to enjoy solitude. When I was very young I met Bernard Leach and asked his advice. He said, in effect 'don't do it, you need a private income and it is a very difficult and lonely life'. I suppose he was right but as I have got older it has suited me and so I am glad that I didn't actually take his advice!

I would just add to this that when I was a very young potter it was not easy to make a living at it. Now though I can see that potters can get very good prices for their work.

On a personal note my interests are reading, and when I can I get out into the countryside.

Made in Cley | A collective generosity of spirit and sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 14:24:00 GMT

This time Contemporary Ceramics are featuring Made in Cley, not an individual but a collective of mostly ceramic makers (jewellery, graphic work and sculpture are also part of their repertoire). The four founder members: Wolfgang, Gunhild, Barbara and Quay met while studying abroad. Their work inspired by the likes of Bernard Leach, Michael Cardew, other leading studio potters and by Japanese and Korean ceramics.

Made in Cley was founded in 1984 in the small coastal village of Cley-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. They set up in an old village shop in Cley, a beautiful Regency building with all its original fittings and turned it into a gallery space and various workshops.

They have seen many members come and stay. The current collective are ten makers, nine of whom are ceramicists. They work alongside each other as a studio group sharing all aspects of pottery making and processing such as glazing, firing and selling. Functional wheel thrown pottery remains at the centre of their work. Due to the continuous exchange and cross influences, they decided not to sign their pots individually but to sell them under the name 'Made in Cley'.

We asked some of the members to introduce themselves.

Gunhild Espelage

I am Gunhild Espelage, one of the founder members of Made in Cley, and came to be a potter by circumstance rather than design, and still to this day feel incredibly lucky about this turn in my life.

My love-affair with clay is ongoing, it is a material that is so rich and versatile and inexhaustible. It has not stopped teaching me new insights after so many years, and will no doubt continue to do so. I enjoy working with my hands, and I enjoy the feeling of being in a continuum of craft workers that stretches back to the beginnings of mankind.

In our 21st century we need a counter-balance to our increasingly virtual and IT dominated world, and this is where pottery and all creative fields where manual skills are celebrated, it is taking on a very important role. It reassures people that there exists another world beyond keyboards and screens and machines, a world that is shaped by human hands, that is tactile, and accessible and real, and where the human creative spirit can express itself in infinite and unlimited ways.

The most exciting aspect of pottery for me is the ability to shape, to pursue the perfectly balanced line for a bowl, or a lamp base, and then maybe to continue to explore further possibilities of these forms, or go away and try something completely different next time. Making pots has also opened my eyes to sculpture, modern sculpture in particular.

Barbara Widdup

I am Barbara, one of the potters at Made in Cley. From school days onwards I have enjoyed looking at and making pottery. I always dreamed of having a pottery and gallery, this became reality when we started Made in Cley in 1984 in the Norfolk village of Cley next the Sea.

Rosalind Redfern

I'm Rosalind, one of the Made in Cley potters. I've been working as a potter for a very long time. The older I get the more fortunate I feel to be working in a group. However experienced you might be, you are always learning and in a group. Sharing ideas and skills can be exciting. I feel lucky to have an outlet for my creativity.

Nicole Schumacher

My name is Nicole and I am one of the potters living and working at 'Made in Cley'. After completing my apprenticeship as a potter in Germany in 2006, I was delighted to have had the opportunity to join this creative and diverse group of potters. I really appreciate sharing various tasks in the production of our pottery as a group and having the freedom to explore new shapes and forms at the wheel at the the same time. I particularly like making teapots because they are complex to make. It's a constant decision making process, which hopefully results in a pot that is full of life, functional and a pleasure to look at.

Mary Perry

We have such a rich history and culture of making pots in the United Kingdom. I love that I can count myself as part of this and always find my inspiration from potters past and present. I have a photograph of Michael Cardew in my workshop looking so joyful sitting at his wheel - he always inspires me when I feel a little lost. A picture of a jug made by him and one by Bernard Leach remind me that I can do better, that there is still a long way to go. I enjoy visiting potters everywhere: to have the opportunity to see and feel their pots, to try and catch the spirit and energy of their pot making. We work alone at the wheel but need each other to make a pot come alive.

Nadine Leech

My name is Nadine Leech and I began throwing at Made in Cley just over 5 years ago. Before that I was working in the shop and assisting with kiln unpacking, pugging clay and whatever else was needed. I combined shop work and throwing for the next 5 years, but I am now pretty much a full time thrower. I am mostly self taught, but also I have been extremely lucky in having very experienced Made in Cley potters on hand to offer advice.

When I am in my work room I am alone, music on, no clocks. The rhythm of throwing takes over and I become immersed and focused. When trying out new forms I find that throwing 'sketches' on the wheel rather than on paper, quickly and efficiently tells me whether an idea has potential or not.

When I was very young, less than 5 years old, my mum had a friend who worked in a trendy boutique. We would call in about once a week and while they chatted I would stare at a big black and white Mary Quant daisy logo on the front of the counter, right at my eye level. Looking back, it seemed to fill my whole field of vision. I found it mouth watering! I looked forward to seeing it. Today, I am still drawn to the same quality that that logo has - a kind of austere friendliness. Pared down but not cold. Soft but not twee. Joyful but not loud. Along with a generosity of form and spirit, I hope to produce these qualities in my own work.

I think a potter's role in the 21st century is to make objects that please themselves and others.

Hannah Tounsend in conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:36:00 GMT

Hannah Tounsend : Photograph Leah Wareham

Our March exhibition, Hannah Tounsend: Marking Time, is one of many across the country, and across the world to have been affected by the temporary closure of a gallery space. This weekend (Saturday 4th April) would have been the final weekend to visit Contemporary Ceramics to see Hannah's outstanding work. Instead, as with the rest of the UK, we are all in lockdown with digital access through photographs and writing. We are aware that many of our customers and Hannah's followers missed the opportunity to see her work. Although not the same as being there in person, we asked Hannah a few questions which arose in response to the works on display and also in response to an interview by Dominique Corlett in Ceramic Review, March/April 2019. The blog feature includes a selection of images from the exhibition.
Our post opens with how Hannah is responding to the current lock-down.

'Lock-down has meant some big changes to how I work. My large city studio and new kiln are out of bounds, so I have retreated to the old outbuilding in my garden to make and experiment. Without assistants, my large forms are impossible to make, so I am using the time to experiment with small scale works and of course lots of glaze tests! I am also, rather more reluctantly, applying myself to the admin work that in the usual course of events is pushed to the bottom of my to-do list - my job for this week is to revamp my website and I will soon be adding an online ceramics store. '

Hannah Tounsend : Material Testing : Image Leah Wareham

Hannah Tounsend in conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

Hannah Tounsend : Marking Time at Contemporary Ceramics

Contemporary Ceramics: In this exhibition there is a strong sense of movement expressed through your brush marks and mark-making which runs through both the clay work and the printmaking. Can you tell us more about the relationship between clay and print.

Hannah Tounsend: The two disciplines of ceramics and printmaking are inextricably linked in my work. Initially my paper monoprints were created as a way to explore surface and mark-making; confined to my sketchbooks they were precursors to ceramic outcomes. However, I quickly came to view these 2D pieces as works in their own right and to present them alongside my vessels as having equal significance. The dual nature of my practice has driven much of my development as an artist. Over the years the conventions, tools and techniques of the print room have marked my ceramic work, whilst aspects of working with clay have widened my approach to print. This crossover has resulted in richer, more complex ceramic, paper and canvas surfaces than I could otherwise have achieved.

Hannah Tounsend : Marking Time : Exhibition Image

CC: Can you tell us more about the things that inspire your practice. Dominique Corlett tells us about the importance of a trip to St. Ives and your annual return to sketch the seascapes which have become inspiration for your work. How do these sketches find their way into your ceramics and print?

HT: Ideas for both my ceramics and monoprints derive from my fascination with the seashore; this area of contrasts that is continually reshaping itself with the passage of light, weather and time. It also provides the muted colour scheme that I work within. My inspiration starts right here where the sea meets the land- sketching details of the landscape, jotting down short descriptions of what lies before me, taking photographs and experimenting with overlays of watercolour washes in my sketch book. I might collect interesting finds; smooth washed pebbles, pieces of tumbled glass or perhaps rusted iron bolts or fixings. All this comes back into my studio to help shape my next series of works. Abstraction allows me to interpret landscape in a very personal way. Freedom from representation gives me the space to respond to place in a broader manner; using colour, gesture, composition and text to capture my experience of a particular site within my work.

CC: In the same interview, you explain of your hybrid platters that they ‘will be all the more precious for being so difficult. Is the visibility of the technical challenges in the finished piece important for the viewer to see, or do you want your work to appear effortless?

Hannah Tounsend : Marking Time : Exhibition Image

HT: The technical challenge is for myself alone - I would hate any effort to be apparent in the final vessel. When creating work my key concerns are composition, mark and surface; the complex making method I have adopted is a way to explore these themes. I hope the final forms have a tranquillity to them.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

HT: I have two watercolours by Salliann Putman that hang beside my computer. The vivid colours of her abstracted landscapes are always cheering and evocative.

Photographs: Dee Honeybun

Lesley McShea | Punk Potter

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 08:57:00 GMT

Lesley McShea circa 1986

Lesley McShea is an established ceramicist and self-confessed punk potter born in Lancashire, England and based in Stoke Newington in London.

Her work is mainly wheel thrown durable functional vessels made with sandy, grogged stoneware clay and decorated with contrasting shiny glaze.

She studied firstly in Australia where she gained a Diploma (Distinction) in Ceramics at Caulfield Institute of Technology in 1982.

She returned to England in 1984, and worked as a ceramic tutor and technician at Westminster Adult Education Service. She continued to work in numerous adult education institutions until retirement from Harrow College in 2013.

Lesley gained a BA(Hons) degree in Ceramics in 1992 at Middlesex University and worked for Emmanuel Cooper and Kate Malone as part of her 'sandwich' year in 1991.

In 1997, she established her own studios Church Street Workshops in Stoke Newington where she continues to produce work and teach numerous workshops.

We asked Lesley some questions about her practice.

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Lesley McShea: I first discovered ceramics at an early age, in Australia, where all the textures and colours of the landscapes and terrain greatly influenced me.

I have been passionate about ceramics for as long as I can remember.

The uncertainty of the clay and glazes make each item an exciting challenge, and no two days are the same.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

LM: A school pal worked throwing clay on wheels with his father in a room at the back of their house, which backed onto the beach, and I was mesmerised watching them work, the whole experience was like meditation and I was 'hooked' from the start.

CC: How do you work?

LM: I mainly throw on my wheel, which was built for me by Steve Harrison, who I went to college with.

I use durable sandy white Stoneware clay, which creates a natural texture that contrasts with the shiny glazes I use.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

LM: I always vowed that I would never become a production potter/ceramicist, however this has changed over the years, due to public demand.

The most recent mass production orders that I completed were very large orders from the Conran shops (Lesley McShea for The Conran Shop),

The work was shipped to the Chelsea, Marylebone and Paris shops. The good thing about the orders was that they encouraged any variations in the sizes of the items, 1-3 cm variation was acceptable, so I was still able to maintain the 'one-off' status in my work.

Wherever possible I continue to make unique one-off items by choice.

My most recent work also consists of brighter colours, a new take from my early work which was quite dark and Gothic.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

LM: My studio is like my second home, and it has many visual aids dotted around the walls, including many 3D bats which I find fascinating.

I also have a large glass showcase of other ceramicists work in the middle of the studio, which I find incredibly inspiring.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

LM: I have always been very respectful of the fact that ceramics and clay have been around and used as objects for cooking/survival as long as early mankind, and going into museums and seeing ancient artifacts from BC made me want to be a part of that historical story, and all of the years I have spent teaching and spreading the ceramics passion makes me proud of keeping that history alive today.

CC: What role does the Potter/Ceramicist have in the 21st Century?

LM: Ceramics' 'fashion' and demand has changed greatly over the years, and there is still a very high desire for functional and decorative ceramics.

Lesley McShea was artist in residence at the Jewish Museum in Camden, London in 2017

Hopefully this desire and demand will continue into the uncertain future, and as a ceramicist, I shall strive to help keep this passion alive.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

LM: I adore working with clay, it is my therapy, my lifeline and my 'rock'.

I'm not sure where I would be now without clay - perish the thought.

Penny Fowler | Q&A. From draughtsperson to Portland vase

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 14:58:00 GMT

We have the pleasure of displaying Penny Fowler's work at Contemporary Ceramics and took the opportunity to ask her some questions about her inspiration and practice.

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Penny Fowler: I have always been excited by the possibilities that working with clay can offer. I love its versatility. It is always exciting starting a new piece and if I have had a holiday break from clay, I look forward to getting back into my workshop and connecting with the material and organising myself to work on new pieces.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

PF: I first worked with clay in my grandfather’s studio when I was very young and later on I did ‘O’ level Pottery alongside my other subjects.

When I went to Bristol Art College for the Foundation Course, I imagined I would study fine art sculpture but soon got hooked by the possibilities that working with clay could offer, and I then went to the Central School in London to study Ceramics.

CC: Are there new pieces or a new direction in your work that will be explored for this feature?

PF: Drawing and sketching from life is the basis of all my work. I draw both people and buildings, and I then incorporate aspects of my latest drawings in my work. I have long been intrigued and inspired by the Portland Vase and have tried to make work in a similar but modern way that plays with translucency on an opaque base. Most recently I have been using my drawings of people and carving faces on some of my work in bone china to achieve an effect like the Portland Vase.

CC: How do you work?

PF: I slip-cast in moulds that I make myself and having cast a new batch of forms I usually work on a couple of pieces at a time. I start with drawing on the leather-hard pots and then I carve into the surface, often through 2 or 3 layers of coloured casting slips.

My passion is carving. I just love to see designs developing and changing as I work on them.

My other passion is that I always aim for the decoration to fit the form and the form to fit the decoration.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

PF: I started working as a thrower using smooth clays and turning the surfaces. The part of the process I enjoyed most was turning and getting the forms thinner and thinner, and this led me onto making moulds and casting my work with casting slips. I make solid blocks for my moulds usually out of clay, which I can then shape and make into offset forms. I colour my slips with oxides and body stains.

I now mostly work with bone-china casting slips playing with light, opacity and translucency.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

PF: I am surrounded by a mixture of natural and man-made forms – I collect skulls, stones, pieces of machinery, tools, drawings, photos, postcards from exhibitions and places I’ve visited, pictures from my sketchbooks; you name it I collect it!

My workbench has a lovely window onto my garden where I can see birds on the feeders, a variety of plants and the changing seasons.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

PF: My grandfather was a classical sculptor and I loved being in his studio and going to museums with him - I spent many happy days in the V and A, the British Museum and the National Gallery with him.

I am inspired by the work of the Assyrians and other ancient civilizations and also by relief carvings on buildings and on coins.

I like walking around the City of London and other places when on holidays, sketching. I enjoy the amazing variety of architectural styles both of old and new buildings.

CC: What role does the potter/ceramicist have in the 21st Century?

PF: I think our role is to enhance and enrich people’s lives with well-made unique, individual pieces of ceramics. In these days of mass production and computer-generated objects it is essential for our well-being to have handmade and beautiful pieces around us.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

PF: Working with clay makes me very inquisitive about the processes of making in all disciplines of creativity. It gives me an awareness of the work involved in all areas of crafts and art. I love looking at the world around me.

Bi-Monthly Display | Billy Adams - experimenting with our relationship to the landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:23:00 GMT

Billy Adams in his studio

Our March Bi-Monthly display kicks off with Billy Adams, a Wales based maker whose work explores relationships between himself and the landscape.

Billy Adams on display at Contemporary Ceramics

"Billy Adams was born in Derry, Northern Ireland and grew up near the border during the Troubles of the 1970s and ‘80s. To escape the political conflict, he often spent time roaming the hills of Donegal and exploring the landscape. He studied a Master’s degree in Ceramics at Cardiff Institute of Higher Education in the late 1980s and he has been living and working in Wales ever since. His initial thrown forms were based on ancient Celtic monuments such as standing stones. Later, he began to reflect more on their landscape settings, especially the wild rugged beauty of Connemara and Donegal, and the dramatic West Wales coastline. He incorporates geological elements, natural colours, as well as the marks of human activity on the landscape in to his vessels. The resulting monumental jugs, vases and bowls with fractured surface textures are also a provocation to the onlooker to question the value of a vessel as a piece of sculpture. Billy Adams is a Fellow of the CPA, Craft Potters Association of the UK." Source: Aberystwyth University, Ceramics Collection and Archive. http://www.ceramics-aberystwyth.com/billy-adams-transitions

Billy Adams | Rosen Vessel

This is the first time of showing for Billy Adams at Contemporary Ceramics in its current location. Billy draws from the landscape for inspiration. He works within the vessel format and finds ways to transfer his response to the natural environment into the surfaces and colours of his pieces. He presents his vessels as an intimate insight into his private view of ceramics, a personal world framed through his interpretation of form and function. His world is a combination of structures and forms interacting with man made elements, through which his aim is to provoke the onlooker to question the value of a vessel as a piece of sculpture.

Billy prefers to stay within the realms of the vessel. He reconsiders physical elements such as rims, handles, and lips, which are commonplace within traditional ceramics. The resulting forms are recognisable as jugs, bowls and vessels, although not functional in this way. Billy aims for them to convey his perception and memory of an ever-changing landscape.

Clay

Adams’ vessels incorporate three different types of clay. During the making process, his clay varies in shrinkage; the outer layer shrinks by 14% and the inner layer by 4%. This is highlighted by his glazing technique. Each piece of work is fired between four and five times. After the standard bisquit firing, he applies a 1280° glaze and follows it up with a 1100° glaze firing, and then a 1040° glaze firing, eventually ending with a 795° lustre firing. After the glazes are sprayed on, they are directionally rubbed off, only to be applied again. This builds up a rich vocabulary of tones and colours, highlighting the unique surface which is characteristic of Adams’ work.

Billy Adams work is on display and for sale in the gallery from March to June 2020.
https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/


Billy Adams \| Babby Bowl


Billy Adams \| Babby Bowl

Line & Form | In Conversation with Emily Myers

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 12:34:00 GMT

Line and Form | 13th February — 7th March 2020
Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin

Emily Myers | Mark Somerville

Our current exhibition brings together three makers whose work explores relationships between surface and form: Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin. For each maker, it would be difficult to divide where the starting point of throwing the vessel separates from ideas around decoration, or the finished surface. Emily Myers observes: “My forms are all thrown initially and then altered, carved or faceted at the leather hard stage. Some pieces are textured with sculpting tools such as a surform or hacksaw blades. I aim for well-proportioned forms with poise.” Anna Silverton describes her process: “I work iteratively, closely watching the profile while making incremental modifications — stretching what I can do and what the porcelain will tolerate.” Ali Tomlin explains: “I like to make most pieces more or less in one go; this means throwing, drying and turning still on the wheel, all the while contemplating what this piece will look like.”

We wanted to find out more about each maker's creative practice, and particularly the shared exploration of relationships, and we open our conversations with Emily Myers

"I find beauty in metal objects such as ancient armour and metal cogs."

Relationships

Contemporary Ceramics: How do you approach the relationship between surface and form?

Emily Myers Vessel | Photo: Emily Myers

Emily Myers: The surface of my current pots are intricately and painstakingly carved. The proportions and thickness of the thrown pot must be just right before I start carving at the leather hard stage. If it is badly proportioned it will stubbornly remain so despite the surface work. I instinctively know what lines or facets will suit certain forms. For example, a pot with a pronounced “shoulder” works best with vertical lines and bring poise, while swirling lines give movement.

CC: The green barium glaze is a surface you return to, what role does colour take in your work?

EM: I find beauty in metal objects such as ancient armour and metal cogs. The green barium glaze emulates verdigris copper and bronze; it contrasts well with the naked high-fired red clay.

CC: Investigating relationships between pieces, when paired or in groups is theme you’re developing at the moment. Can you tell us more about this?

EM: Pots often work well in groups or families as a conversation is set up between pieces. Once in pairs, the space between the pots also becomes tangible. I hope to capture the quiet composure of Morandi’s paintings.

Studio

Emily Myers | Exhibition Detail |Photo: Dee Honeybun

CC: How do you work?

EM: All my pots are thrown initially and then I work on them once they are leather hard. I enjoy exploring the possibilities of altering round forms to create new shapes. I flatten or tilt, facet or carve the forms.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

EM: My workshop is too small to have anything on the walls. I do have a world map so that when I listen to From Your Own Correspondent on the Radio 4 I know what country they are talking about!

Background

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

EM: I consider myself very lucky to have attended King Alfred’s School in North London which had a proper pottery and a great teacher. When I was twelve, I decided I wanted to be a pottery teacher. By the time I was fifteen I was spending every lunch break in the pottery.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

Emily Myers | Photo: Dee Honeybun

EM: It was a piece of architecture; Battersea Power Station. I grew up in London and I was taken with its clean lines and imposing structure. At the time I was doing my pottery “O” levels I even made a ceramic model of it. Sadly the chimneys warped in the kiln. Even so, my parents faithfully kept it and have it still.

CC: What has been a seminal/inspirational moment?

EM: I studied at Bristol Art School in the 1980s. Watching Walter Keeler doing an in-depth demonstration was inspirational. His method of working was a great influence on me at that time. My degree show which was based on car exhaust pipes was rather derivative.

Emily Myers | Photo: Dee Honeybun

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

EM: Being a potter means that I can work from home and fit work around bringing up my 3 children. For example, I carve my pots at the kitchen table so that I can chat to the kids at the same time.

You can see Ali's work, together with Emily Myers and Anna Silverton in Line and Form, at Contemporary Ceramics until the 7th March 2020

https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

Line & Form | In Conversation with Ali Tomlin

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 14:50:00 GMT

Line and Form | 13th February — 7th March 2020
Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin

Ali Tomlin | Photo: Seamus Flanagan

Our current exhibition brings together three makers whose work explores relationships between surface and form: Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin. For each maker, it would be difficult to divide where the starting point of throwing the vessel separates from ideas around decoration, or the finished surface. Emily Myers observes: “My forms are all thrown initially and then altered, carved or faceted at the leather hard stage. Some pieces are textured with sculpting tools such as a surform or hacksaw blades. I aim for well-proportioned forms with poise.” Anna Silverton describes her process: “I work iteratively, closely watching the profile while making incremental modifications — stretching what I can do and what the porcelain will tolerate.” Ali Tomlin explains: “I like to make most pieces more or less in one go; this means throwing, drying and turning still on the wheel, all the while contemplating what this piece will look like.”

We wanted to find out more about each maker's creative practice, particularly the shared exploration of relationships, and we open our conversations with Ali Tomlin.

"I work with the shape of the piece when I make the marks, I want the colours to accentuate the forms, not fight them."

Relationships

Ali Tomlin | Stem. Burgundy & yellow splash

Contemporary Ceramics: How do you approach the relationship between colour and mark-making?

Ali Tomlin: I like my colours to be strong but muted, if that’s possible! There are different approaches and requirements of the colours depending on the style of decoration that I’m using. When making the graphic brush-stroke marks I’m not looking for a soft wash or blurred edges, I want the colours to be bold and opaque. For the brushed, painterly style I use stronger colours that I can soften with sponges or gently scrape away areas from. Often the colours are a combination of neutral tones with one other brighter colour to lift the whole piece. I love discovering a new colour that changes the personality of a piece. I have a desk in my studio where I paint too, usually onto bare wood, and sometimes the paintings will inform how I approach brush marks on my pots - and vice versa.

CC: In this exhibition, the work on display illustrates three approaches to surface: splashes, brush painting and sgraffito. How does your decision process work ?

AT: I think that each approach works off the other so I try to keep a balance of the different styles. I make several shelves of bare pots, in all shapes and sizes. I can see the collection growing while I’m throwing and I live with the blank shapes for several days before I decide which ones will be decorated in which way. There’s not a science to it but some shapes do suggest, for example, sgraffito lines to me and others not. As I gradually complete them and the shelves become colourful, I get a feel for what’s needed.

CC: You throw simple, classic forms in porcelain. Please tell us more about the relationship between form and surface?

Ali Tomlin | Green yellow splash bottles LG & small

AT: I have quite a lot of different styles of surface decoration and my range of colours is constantly growing which runs the risk of a rather messy collection. This diversity happened naturally - perhaps it’s my low boredom threshold! - and I only noticed once I started going to fairs that many potters have one, strong personality to their work which looks really cohesive and recognisable. The way I try to tackle my mixture of styles and allow myself to try new ones is by having some other constants; I leave the main substrate the natural, white porcelain and I have my signature mark as a common element too. I keep my forms simple, but hopefully elegant. The clean, soft lines really become a canvas for my mark making so I tend to avoid making cups or anything fiddly with handles which can complicate the forms.

I work with the shape of the piece when I make the marks, I want the colours to accentuate the forms, not fight them.

I like to have several pieces of one form in various different colours and styles. This works well with smaller pieces like the stem vases and is a good testing ground for adding new pieces.

Studio

CC: How do you work?

Ali Tomlin | Photo: Dee Honeybun

AT: I am in my workshop most days of the week. Every few weeks I have to devote a day to selecting, wrapping and packing work to send out. This always takes much longer than I anticipate so I have now learned to put the whole day aside to do this, rather than an ad hoc box here and there throughout the week. It’s my least favourite thing, I hate deciding which pieces to send, I’d much rather galleries told me which pieces they wanted!

I have two wheels and what is probably a very bad system of throwing on one wheel, applying a fixed heat gun and drying it as it’s slowly turning while using the other wheel to make another one or trim/decorate one from earlier. Most decoration is done on the wheel to try and capture the feeling of movement that I like.

I’m not terribly efficient otherwise, in that I tend to make one whole pot at a time, not several of the same size. I may make ten stem vases first thing in the morning for a week to build up stock but otherwise it’s a one by one approach.

I have the radio on all day, usually Radio London - I live in Farnham now but it makes me feel connected to the real world. Otherwise it’s Radio 4.

My studio is in the garden and my husband works at home too, so there are many coffee breaks and people regularly call in.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

AT: I have my half finished paintings and sketches on one side of my studio. I flick back through these occasionally and often it’s just a simple, drawn line that catches my eye. In the same way I have drawings that my son did when he was small, that have brilliantly unselfconscious lines and marks that I love. I have some metal number and letter stencils, some wood block letters and some handmade papers one of which has asian characters on it.

I opted for windows on three sides of my studio to get as much light as possible in instead of walls, so unfortunately there isn’t enough wall space to put more imagery up!

Ali Tomlin | Photo: Dee Honeybun

Background

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

AT: My local art school, in Putney, did pottery classes on a Saturday morning and I thought it might be fun. I was a partner in a graphic design business but I was finding that after twenty years I was inevitably involved in running projects, dealing with clients and not designing very much. When I started trying out clay it was a revelation of suddenly remembering what pure, uncontrolled creativity felt like. Although just having one morning a week to achieve something was frustrating, let alone the nature of clay itself, the pleasure and satisfaction of ‘making’ was addictive. I didn’t know that I was going to adopt it completely but I really enjoyed it.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

AT: My aunt had posters of exhibitions at her house and one was a poster for a Miro exhibition which I was fascinated by. To me at that age, a printed poster was art. Our walls now are jam packed with paintings or drawings and I know who created them and where they have all come from, some well known and many not, but all important to me for different reasons.

CC: What has been a seminal/inspirational moment?

AT: In my Saturday morning class, I started to realise that pots didn’t have to look like what my very limited knowledge of pottery looked like. After having fun with earthenware and stoneware, I then discovered porcelain. My teacher at Putney, John Dawson, is a porcelain thrower and demonstrated how it was possible to make elegant, refined shapes. Since then there have been many other seminal moments. Long may that continue.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

Ali Tomlin | Small round pots collection

AT: If you ask my husband, I don’t have a life beyond the workshop! I’ve always been influenced by the visual, but working with clay has introduced me to makers in all materials and broadened my interest to the three dimensional and crafted.

You can see Ali's work, together with Emily Myers and Anna Silverton in Line and Form, at Contemporary Ceramics until the 7th March 2020

https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

Line & Form | In conversation with Anna Silverton

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 17:30:00 GMT

Line and Form | 13th February — 7th March 2020
Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin

Anna Silverton

Our current exhibition brings together three makers whose work explores relationships between surface and form: Emily Myers, Anna Silverton and Ali Tomlin. For each maker, it would be difficult to divide where the starting point of throwing the vessel separates from ideas around decoration, or the finished surface. Emily Myers observes: “My forms are all thrown initially and then altered, carved or faceted at the leather hard stage. Some pieces are textured with sculpting tools such as a surform or hacksaw blades. I aim for well-proportioned forms with poise.” Anna Silverton describes her process: “I work iteratively, closely watching the profile while making incremental modifications — stretching what I can do and what the porcelain will tolerate.” Ali Tomlin explains: “I like to make most pieces more or less in one go; this means throwing, drying and turning still on the wheel, all the while contemplating what this piece will look like.”

We wanted to find out more about each maker's creative practice, and particularly the shared exploration of relationships, and we open our conversations with Anna Silverton.
Anna Silverton

“I explore both balance and counterbalance; I’m trying to find forms that combine elegance with visual surprise.”

Anna Silverton | Black Vase | Photo: Justin Webb

Relationships

Contemporary Ceramics: It feels that there is a strong exploration of balance in your work, with extremes of expansion and constraint. Can you tell us more about your response to form?

Anna Silverton: I explore both balance and counterbalance; I’m trying to find forms that combine elegance with visual surprise. There is discipline and control with my technique but within the formality it is important for me to retain playfulness. I make subtle and gradual changes over time. I stretch out forms extravagantly but then I may nip them in or pare them back, for example, I enjoy the tension this creates.

Practicality is not my primary driver when developing shape, though I restrict what I make to vases and bowls. I respond to minimalism, but in my own work I want to find a more sensual simplicity.

CC: In this exhibition, a number of pieces use glazes to disrupt surface. How do you see the balance between the different surface qualities?

AS: I apply tactile glazes, using a limited palette of colours, with minimal but meticulous attention to detail to punctuate outline and to balance formal proportions. I use incised bands to articulate and accentuate shape and create or interrupt formal dynamics. On first impression the glaze detail may not be apparent, but I enjoy that on second glance, or if the light hits in the right way, more is revealed.

Anna Silverton | Photo: Justin Webb

CC: Is scale important?

AS: Scale is very important, it changes presence and physical interaction. For example, the relationship between the viewer and vessel changes if you can wrap your arms around a piece rather than balance it delicately in your hand.

My intuitive or natural scale for working is quite large, I like to be able to grip the porcelain and feel some physical challenge when I work with it. I like my work to feel ‘monumental’, but on a human rather than architectural scale. When I do work on a small scale it is a different challenge, it has to involve a complete shift of my focus and the clay must be gently cajoled.

Studio

CC: How do you work ?

AS: My studio is at home in my house, which means that I have the advantage of being able to carefully control the drying of my porcelain, which is key to the success or failure of each piece. I work alone, which suits me because I love to listen to music or audio-books as I work.


Anna Silverton\|Black Vase, White Vase\|Photo:Dee Honeybun

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work ?

AS: I generally keep a couple of photos of pieces I have made that have particularly intrigued or pleased me. I also have my drawings, which describe a series of profiles that I want to explore. I also pin things to the wall I want to keep in mind, like glaze recipes and tests.

Background

CC: How did you first get involved with working with clay?

AS: I was fortunate to be at school in the days when there were ceramics facilities, and I had a thoughtful ceramics teacher called Mr Buchanan. On Foundation my tutor was James Campbell and at Camberwell I was taught throwing by Janice Tchalenko and Colin Pearson. I didn’t wheel-throw at all during my time at the Royal College, but returned it to it later when I was making vases for the Conran Shop.

CC:What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

AS:I remember first seeing the Bauhaus chair by Marcel Breuer when I was on Foundation. I would say it is one of the only things that I really loved as a teenager that has stood the test of time. I often think if I hadn’t chosen ceramics as a subject for my degree then furniture design would have been my choice.

Anna Silverton | Line and Form Exhibition image | Photo: Dee Honeybun

CC: What has been a seminal/inspirational moment?

AS: I decided that I wanted to change direction with my ceramic work in about 2007 and I started working with porcelain on the wheel, instead of stoneware clay. There was a long gap of about 10 years before I felt confident enough to launch this new work, which I did at Ceramic Art London 2017.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

AS: Outside the workshop I also work part-time as Program Manager for the HND Ceramics Course at Morley College. It is a demanding role, but a fantastic opportunity to develop worthwhile higher education opportunities in Ceramics.

Anna Silverton | Black Bowl | Photo: Justin Webb

You can see Anna's work, together with Emily Myers and Ali Tomlin in Line and Form, at Contemporary Ceramics until the 7th March 2020

https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

Sophie Cook | In conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 17:36:00 GMT

Our exhibition program starts the new year with Sophie Cook who brings colour to the gallery.

Sophie creates delicate porcelain silhouettes that marry the elements of colour and form. Based on the Suffolk coast, she throws bottles, pods and teardrop forms on the wheel, constantly refining and evolving these shapes. She develops her own palette of glazes, ranging in colour from pale neutrals to deep amber, navy and aubergine. Colours are developed to connect individual vessel through shade and tone, and her bottles – no two identical – sit strongly as individual works and when arranged in groups form compelling collections.

We were curious to know more about Sophie's creative practice and to discover other influences in her life. You can find out more below...

Sophie Cook | In conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Sophie Cook: I love making, creating, using my hands. I get a real sense of wellbeing from turning the pieces on the wheel.

Sophie Cook | Exhibition view | Photo: Dee Honeybun

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

SC: We had a book at home of Victorian art and there was a painting of a young brother and sister who were orphaned and out on the street. When I was about three or four years old my big brother would get the book out and show me the picture because I would always burst into tears.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

SC: I used to love Fimo modelling clay when I was about ten years old and used to make wizards and creatures...but actually working in clay would have been at Camberwell when I did my Foundation course. We tried out ceramics, fine art, graphics and textiles. I decided to specialise in textiles but my sister had just finished her degree in woven textiles and said there weren’t any jobs in it, so I decided to apply for the ceramics BA instead. It all seems a bit bizarre thinking back, I didn’t even have any clay work to show them in the interview.


Sophie Cook \| Exhibition view \| Photo: Dee Honeybun

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

SC: I don’t really have any wall space in my studio, so I only have a few drawings my boys have done for me. What keeps me company all day is listening to books through Audible, I’m a really slow reader so listening to them is just perfect.

CC: How do you work?

Sophie Cook | Exhibition view | Photo: Dee Honeybun

SC: I can throw four vessels in a day. I dry them for two days and then I carve them down,to refine their shape slightly.They are left to dry for a week, and then I spray on the glaze.I know I’ll be making the same form for that particular day. I refine the shape each time I throw. This happens on the wheel...So today, I have been trying to make more jar forms...vessels with open tops rather
than tight necks. I look at the last oneI've thrown and try to make the next better.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

SC: I used to work twelve hours a day in Cockpit Art studios with loads of other makers, now it’s just me in my studio in the garden in really rural surroundings, trying to fit as much as I can within the school day. It’s hard not being around other makers to bounce ideas off but it’s great that I can leave the kids in the house and escape to the studio to work.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

Sophie Cook | Exhibition view | Photo: Dee Honeybun

SC: Hmm, not sure how to answer that one. I have to see an osteopath regularly to sort out my aching neck from being twisted over all day and my hands look like an eighty year old. Not the intellectual answer you’re probably after.

CC: What role does the potter/ceramist have in the 21st Century?

SC:I don’t think I analyse there being a particular role for a potter. I just think of it as a great job to create and make and to work for yourself…disclaimer, that’s when things are going well. The rest of the time it’s infuriating, exhausting and constant.

Sophie Cook | Multiplicity at Contemporary Ceramics until the 8th February 2020.

https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

Jaroslav Hrustalenko | Creativity driven by the passion for colour, shape and strong visual impression.

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 17:05:00 GMT

Jaroslav Hrustalenko

Jaroslav Hrustalenko is the second maker taking part in our January bi-monthly display. He was accepted as a Selected Member of the Craft Potters Association last November and this is the first showing of his work at Contemporary Ceramics.

Jaroslav Hrustalenko

"Jaroslav Hrustalenko is an internationally renowned artist based in the UK. He has been engaged in creative practice and 3D design professionally since 1989.

A Ukrainian descendant of multi-ethnic ancestors, Jaroslav grew up in a multi-lingual environment saturated with culture, surrounded by art, music, literature and science. His creativity is driven by the passion for colour, shape and strong visual impression.

The artist constantly searches for new creative ideas and sources of inspiration, which may come from almost anything (but ceramics). He frequently turns to nature, which in his opinion is the greatest teaching resource. He goes for long walks along the countryside to admire the rhythmic patterns of the rich landscape diversity, dissolve in space and time listening to the birds, and to study the impact of time on the pebbles and weathered boulders protruding from the half-dry river bed. His inquisitive eye examines the variety of geological formations, trying to reconstruct (in raw clay) the actual processes that shaped them. This enables him to develop a totally new set of expressive means, virtually non-existent before. So called “organic geometry” and “controlled chaos” became the key features to his body of work of this period (1998-2006).


Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Images 1, 2 and 3.

In the evenings he engages in a variety of musical and theatrical troupes, church choir or just plays guitar with his friends. Concentrating on an expressive element like the tone range, scale type, rhythmic measure or unusual chord progressions, Jaroslav finds straight forward similarities with corresponding elements in fine art, which fascinates him.

All of this mixed experience simultaneously influences Jaroslav’s comprehending and interpretation of composition and harmony in almost any form of human activity - like fine art, dance choreography, culinary art, oriental massage, vehicle design, perfume making, etc. A major shift in his understanding of this matter happens during an (initially not very exciting) commission for the brewery concern of Laško d.d. (Slovenia), requiring him to develop and make from scratch 1035 pieces of commemorative ‘Millennium 2000’ beer mugs as business Protocol Gifts – in just 2 months, entirely by hand. Having locked himself up in the studio, Jaroslav could see nothing but grey clay, grey walls, grey floor, and the grey army of tankards being finished for the bisque firing. So once, during his university trip to the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, Jaroslav unexpectedly finds himself in front of the ‘View of Arles’ by Van Gogh, and suddenly experiences a “colour explosion” of his own. This new unexpected angle that opens up to him, after the months of seeing nothing but shades of grey in his workshop, leads him to a brand new series of experiments with the colour wheel by shading out certain sequences of hue, following the principles and logic of harmonies in music rather than that in fine art, constantly assessing the outcomes against the existing examples in impressionism, expressionism and abstract art as well as in product design.

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 4, 5 and 6.

Extensively implementing his own developments on colour harmony and modular design, Jaroslav completes (alongside his full-time studies from 1999-2004) numerous other commissions for various major international clients, such as Gorenje (bespoke ceramic tiles), Novem d.o.o. (individualised car interior designs) and several Protocol Gift clients.

This absolutely vast experience leads Jaroslav to a principle change in his interpretation of industrial product design and understanding its aesthetical aspects as well as the structural features of the three-dimensional body, its appearance in space and the subjective aspect of its perception. Jaroslav becomes literally obsessed with modular approach to designing artistic pottery vessels and bespoke geometry ceramic tiles as a vehicle or method for generating new shapes unseen and unthought-of before.

In 2006 Jaroslav enters an even more exciting period of creativity as he enrols at UCA in Farnham to take his MA course in 3D design. Here he meets Ashley Howard, Magdalene Odundo and (now very sadly late) Emmanuel Cooper, thanks to whose joint influence Jaroslav, in his pursuit of perfection, gradually arrives at his genuinely individual and distinctive style, remaining true to his original ideas and aspirations.

Img 7.

Tango Dancers, 2007

Work in progress, height 27-31 cm.

Img 8.

Tango Dancers, 2007

Crystalline glazed porcelain, height 31 cm.

As before, he constantly explores the natural world, fine art, science, music and dance, building his body of work on a broad multicultural background. Creating his “gendered” biomorphic and geometrically stylised intricate shape vessels, the artist still does not require any advanced equipment in his studio. He much prefers to rely on his own hands and the most basic tools he usually designs himself.

Jaroslav Hrustalenko holds qualifications of Master of Art in 3D design (since 2007) as well as Professor of Fine Art (2005). From November 2019 he is also a selected member of the Craft Potters Association (CPA).

Jaroslav has exhibited widely both in group and solo shows in the UK and abroad. He is a qualified tutor and the author of several publications. His artworks are kept in numerous private collections worldwide." Jaroslav Hrustalenko 2020

More information about Contemporary Ceramics can be found https://www.contemporaryceramics.uk/

Penny Green | Referencing the past through contemporary figurative sculpture

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 15:33:00 GMT

Penny Green

As we step into the new decade, 2020 continues with our regular introduction of new makers to the gallery through our bi-monthly display feature. This January we're featuring two makers: Penny Green and Jaroslav Hrustalenko.

For the January display, Penny Green has introduced new ideas into her work. She has been exploring the idea of 'Wild women', an interest that developed from a holiday photograph she has in her workshop of Wild men sculptures at the entrance to Vallodolid Cathedral in Spain.

Contemporary Ceramics talks with Penny about her background, how she first became involved in ceramics and new directions in her work.

Penny Green

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Penny Green: My art education at Birmingham and the Slade was in Theatre Design after which I became a fashion designer for 20 years. In many ways, this reflects in my ceramic work.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

PG: I started making hand-painted plates and chargers. After a time I took the Ceramics Diploma course at the City Lit with Kate Wickham, Robert Cooper, Annie Turner and Sarah Radstone. This all-encompassing course established a store of making skills and encouraged innovation and enquiry within the field of ceramics. This has given me flexibility in my work which enables me to approach each new project, whether it is site-specific or domestic artworks in an appropriate way. I tend to do much research if what I am making relates to a historical place or person, along with lots of clay, colour and glaze tests.

Penny Green | Wildwomen

CC: Are there new pieces or a new direction in your work that will be explored for this showcase?

PG: For the new work at Contemporary Ceramics, I started exploring the idea of Wild women, this partly came about from a holiday photo in my workshop of Wild men sculptures at the entrance of Valladolid Cathedral in Spain. Previously made birds and nests have crept in, they are symbolic of birth and regeneration and I am planning to work more on this theme.

I wanted to make larger more curvaceous womanly body shapes and have recently started using Earthstone Architectural hand-building clay, which is ideal.

For a few years, I have had a reproduction of Piero Della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ in the workshop. It’s very enigmatic and I like looking at the composition and the way figures interact.

CC: How do you work?

PG: I enjoy working in my workshop making my funny pieces but I also love working with other artists and specific groups to make ceramic works for public places.

Working with clay gives joy and pleasure and it is heartening to see pottery becoming popular again after the shocking closures of many courses.

Penny Green | Lady of the Wild Things

Fired clay will always be with us and makers will continue to surprise and delight.

Penny Green | Dotty Man

Chris Turrell-Watts | Still magic and mystery left to see...

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:41:00 GMT

Chris Turrell-Watts

Chris Turrell-Watts | Image: Simon Dredge

Like many of our makers, Chris Turrell-Watts route into working with clay was supported and encouraged by inspirational teachers. Caught by the closures of courses around 6 years ago, (one of the inspirations for this blog stems from this time: to highlight the importance of good teachers and also to uncover alternative ways of learning about ceramics), Chris co-established the independent Southport Ceramics Studio, now Baltic Clay, which supports other makers and runs classes for beginners.

More recently, the opportunity to develop his personal practice has led Chris to explore his interest in myths and folklore and how people use storytelling to deal with the world as they see it.

Chris explains: "I was fortunate to have a great ceramics teacher at my secondary school called Mrs O Hara who encouraged me to work in clay and develop my interest in exploring 3D forms. She was the first to see my natural tendency to work with materials and create new shapes.

After that, I carried on with a Foundation course at Barnet College and then a degree in Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plastics at Brighton. A good teacher is always important and, again, I was very lucky to have an open and encouraging tutor called Sean Hetterley, a fine artist and ceramicist who was supportive and allowed us the space and time to develop our own way of working in clay and nurtured a sense of discovery and exploration.

I graduated in 1992 and spent the next 12 years in Brighton making and teaching. I taught for a while at Central St Martins at the Foundation Course as a Visiting Lecturer and as Lead Tutor for Ceramics.

In 2004 I moved up to Liverpool and got a job as Ceramics Technician at Southport College which had a great ceramics department. The lead tutor was Don Parkinson who had run the workshop since the 70’s but like many other ceramic departments in colleges and universities across the country, it was closed down and we were both made redundant. We decided to take a huge risk and bought some of the equipment from the workshop and set up as the independent Southport Ceramics Studio just over 6 years ago. We learnt a lot about running a business and how to be self-employed, how to advertise and promote the studio as well as everything else! The studio was struggling and three years ago I decided to move the studio to the heart of Liverpool and it’s gone from strength to strength there. We are planning another move in order to expand as demand is so strong.

The last few years have also given me the opportunity to concentrate on my own work which has gradually developed in to something that is satisfying and substantial. I’ve always been interested in myths and folklore and how people use storytelling to deal with the world as they see it. My series of Wonderbeasts explore notions of hybrid creatures and I find inspiration from looking at Medieval illustrations of animals and how they imbued then with magic and mystery. The natural world must have been a very real and dangerous place for people and it was used as a way of telling stories both moral and ambiguous. We are surrounded by fact and logic and I like to try to and remind people that there is still a little magic and mystery left to see." Chris Turrell-Watts 2019

Contemporary Ceramics | 2019 Ceramics Gift Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 16:43:00 GMT

Our handpicked 2019 Ceramics Gift Guide

During the nearly 60 years of Contemporary Ceramics, the gallery, in its different forms, has always championed the diversity of studio pottery.

The advantage this gives visitors is the sheer variety of work to choose from. Of course, at this time of the year, this can also be a little overwhelming… so to help with choosing the perfect gift, we have put together a gift guide.

Under £50: The Morning Drink We have selected a range of drinking vessels that will bring colour or calm to the day...

In the spirit of William Morris: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

We have browsed our current collection and have selected pieces that are we know are useful and would definitely argue are beautiful…

For Food

It is important to us that the handmade ceramics for sale are priced to meet most pockets, and we have narrowed down our guide to help with this. Within each category, we hope to offer pieces to suit your budget and hopefully appeal to even the choosiest person on your gift list.

We will be adding more during the run-up to Christmas and please return to see further work.

Sarah Dunstan | All Handmade Pots Are Unique...

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 14:20:00 GMT

There are interesting connections to be found linking the history of ceramics with the present day. Often through process: very little has changed when you dig deep into the practicalities of firing, for example, but also images and decoration find their way through to the modern-day via new interpretations. Sarah Dunstan explains here how an old blue and white Willow Pattern cup is currently an object of inspiration. These associations can be seen with motifs used on the piece, China Blue Platter.

Sarah Dunstan is one of four makers taking part in our current Bi-monthly display feature, and in the interview below, she talks about her leap of faith when starting her ceramics course, changes to her practice and current work.

Her work is for sale in the gallery, and further images can be found on our Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/ceramicscentre/

Contemporary Ceramics: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

Sarah Dunstan: I loved art at school and making things in woodwork and metalwork but it wasn’t until I discovered the ceramics department on my foundation course at Falmouth that I had a clear idea of the direction, I wanted to take. I was being encouraged to choose fine art but just before making my degree applications I rebelled and changed to ceramics. I was completely unprepared for my degree course but I loved it and have never regretted my decision.

CC: How do you work?

SD: My pots are all slab built. Most of the work is done when the clay is a flat sheet. The surface is
painted with coloured slips before the patterns and images are applied in the form of intricate
transfers, cut from layers of porcelain slip built up onto newsprint. Each design is scribed into the
wet porcelain freehand before unwanted areas are scraped away leaving the final image to be
transferred onto the body. The decorated clay sheets are then assembled to create the finished
form.

Sarah Dunstan | Sardine Tin

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

SD: For some years after college, my work was made in porcelain - delicate, intricate forms with a glossy high-fired finish. But my sketchbooks, an important element in my practice, contain a collection of found images, details, colour, and texture; of paint and pigments, and I wanted a way to reproduce this in my work. In the late 1990s while on a residency at Rufford Ceramic Centre, I started experimenting with coloured slips painted onto a stoneware body. I found that this allowed me to bring all the elements in my sketchbooks more directly into my work. In the following years, I gradually developed my technique of making porcelain transfers. It took a long time to get it right! Although my making has not changed dramatically since then, I find that my work is always evolving.

Sarah Dunstan | China Blue Platter

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

SD: I am surrounded by photos, small drawings, fragments of wallpaper - the same bits and pieces that go into my sketchbooks. Old magazines, books on fabrics, art and ceramics - my tools are stored in old Greek olive oil tins. For my current work, I am drawing directly from a beautiful old blue and white willow pattern cup. Having said all that, my studio is currently unusually bare, as the Leach Pottery has borrowed my sketchbooks, noticeboard and much of the clutter, to recreate my studio as a part of their ‘Surface’ exhibition running until May next year!

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

SD: In the 6th form at school, I won a prize and chose a book on Cezanne. I fell in love with his
painting ‘Bridge at Maincy’. On my degree course, I saw the real thing on a trip to Paris, and it
made me cry.

Sarah Dunstan | Small Red Jug

CC: What role does the potter/ceramicist have in the 21st Century?

SD: Once in Ceramic Review Wally Keeler was asked: “do handmade pots still have value in our mass-produced, digital world?” He replied “Every Sony Ericsson mobile phone is identical and perfect. All handmade pots (like daisies and lemons) are unique. They have the power to communicate unspoken poems.” I have this written on my studio wall.

CC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

SD: A woman came up to me at Oxford Ceramics Fair told me that she had been feeling very low after
being made redundant when she fell in love with a piece of my work at a gallery. It was a bright yellow bottle with the word ‘Sunshine’ on it. She told me her husband went back and bought it for her as a surprise.

Claire Seneviratne | fascinated by curvaceous shapes

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 13:03:00 GMT

Claire Seneviratne

"I’m fascinated by lovely curvaceous shapes. I love how a piece can make you feel..."

Claire Seneviratne joins us for the November to February bi-monthly display feature. Her smoke-fired vessels are distinctive with her use of gold lustre - a material that often succumbs to the firing process and is lost. Claire has developed a technique which retains the genuine gold lustre often with a delicate crazed surface.

Claire Seneviratne | Fascinated by Curvaceous Shapes...

"I realised that I wanted to specialise in ceramics during my multidisciplinary design degree at Stoke-on Trent when I saw images of African women carrying beautiful round ceramic water pots on their heads. The elegance of the women and the simple symmetry of the vessels left a strong impression.

After graduating, I trained to be an art teacher as I didn’t feel ready to become a studio potter; I needed more development time. For many years this is exactly what I did. I always felt my work needed something else and wasn’t sure what it was. Fortunately, I discovered smoke-firing and felt that this was the missing ingredient! From this day onwards while caring for my two sons and teaching part-time, I was able to experiment and develop my work to my heart’s content!

I experimented with different types of sawdust and all sorts of different combustible materials. I loved using coloured slips and burnishing but I had real problems with my work cracking during the smoke-firing process. I almost gave up after a couple of years of not finding the right clay, but thankfully, at last, I did.

As my work progressed, I tried incorporating some glaze into my work as I was interested in producing different layers and textures. I also wanted to work with lustres. The glazing worked well but the lustres would frequently burn off and as I particularly like gold lustre this was a very expensive trial! Fortunately, I did work out how to prevent this from happening.

I like symmetry and my pots tend to be symmetrical but I’m not obsessed about them being perfectly symmetrical. If they are a little off that’s fine by me. I’m fascinated by lovely curvaceous shapes. I love how a piece can make you feel by curving out and then slowing curving in until a finishing point is intuitively realised.

My inspiration comes from the natural environment; anything from beautiful shells, momentous rock formations, coastlines, forests and the incredible images captured from outer space. The natural environment is so important to our mental health, if my work could encourage people to walk more and find beauty in their environment, I would feel I have achieved something.

Keith Brymer-Jones (L), Claire Seneviratne (R)

A real highlight in my career was meeting Keith Brymer-Jones during a craft fair that I was exhibiting in. A customer of mine told me she had seen him in a nearby bar and I cheekily asked her if she would mind asking him to come over as I would love to meet him! She kindly agreed and went to find him. Keith came to see me and was so friendly and encouraging. The next year at the same show he met me again and told me my work had really progressed and was beautiful! I was thrilled by this and am so grateful for his words and the tremendous impact that he has had on ceramic appreciation through his passion and enthusiasm on ‘Pottery throwdown’!

In December 2016 I left my part-time teaching post to work as a ceramic artist full time and as an added bonus we had our double garage converted into the most luxurious Art Studio!

So now I spend my days happily potting and smoke-firing away. My sons now have jobs and have left home. I go for lots of walks with my husband and gorgeous crazy collie. We both love the woods and coastal walks when we can get there, it fills me with everlasting joy and inspiration." Claire Seneviratne 2019

MARTIN PEARCE | Allusive Forms. In conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:21:00 GMT

Martin Pearce

Martin Pearce makes sculptures that reference shapes found in the natural world. He talks about the trees and landscape close to the coast where he lives as being important points of reference. His biomorphic shapes are handbuilt using Earthstone white stoneware clay. Pearce's starting point; a contoured slab of stoneware, is carefully draped over a chosen three-dimensional object. Working intuitively, he coils and manipulates the clay responding directly to the developing form.

In the run-up to his exhibition, Allusive Forms, at Contemporary Ceramics, we've been speaking with Martin to discover more about his journey with clay.

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do.

Martin Pearce: Being a quiet sort of chap, I was drawn to activities through which I could express myself by creating objects. One of the great things about ceramics is that all of the aspects of design and creation are, at least theoretically, up to you.

Martin Pearce |

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

MP: My father had an interest in ceramics and, when I was 10, he helped me throw my first pot. Though not often repeated, this had a big effect on me. On the rather flimsy basis of enjoying sketching as a teenager, I was accepted into art college where I studied interior design. For many years, I harboured the idea of making with clay but kept my interest going through collecting ceramics instead. Inevitably, I started experimenting, using a tiny kiln and the corner of a room. When disaster struck and a fire destroyed my interior design archives and information library, I took the hint, and set about teaching myself the dark arts of the ceramicist. That was ten years ago, and I still have a long way to go.

Martin Pearce |

CC: How do you work?

MP: I am not much of a morning person, so I have to rely on unthinking routine. Once I am in the studio, with the radio playing music that I don’t have to listen to, and I have found pots that really need to be rescued right now, I can start work (or play, as I call it). I begin work with an idea of the finished piece, perhaps even a sketch, but then I work intuitively. I normally have two or three pieces to work on, different in scale or intention, to keep my thinking fresh. When it is time to decorate a batch of pieces, the studio is reorganised to give me plenty of spatter space. Many pieces have slips flicked and dripped onto them, and I tend to disregard the consequences of my actions as I work. My studio walls are a mess.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

MP: I never have images that are relevant to my work. I find them too distracting and interfere with my train of thought.

Martin Pearce |

CC: In what way has the process of making a new body of work for this exhibition influenced your practice?

MP: I have had to introduce a new level of discipline and forward planning, to create a cohesive body of work.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

MP: Having established a basic visual language for my work, I have moved from making vessel-based forms to essentially closed sculptural forms. Surface treatments have become quieter to emphasise the importance of form.

Martin Pearce |

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

MP: It wasn’t a single piece, but rather a movement that opened doors for me. The work of the New York Expressionists taught me that emotion and narrative were possible without figuration. The inner mind could communicate directly.

CC: You write that you don’t intend representation in your work. Are there material qualities or aesthetic concerns that drive this approach?

MP: Direct representation doesn’t interest me. Abstraction concentrates the idea, and provokes the imagination. When presented with a representational piece, it is obvious what it is. What it means is all too often not considered.

Martin Pearce

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

MP: I am always half looking for shapes and compositions that could extend the visual language of my work. I don’t sketch what I see, I prefer to remember and interpret the impression.

CC: What role does the potter/ceramist have in the 21st Century?

MP: Potters/ceramists, and all makers, have the opportunity to enhance people’s lives. Whether it is the creation of pure beauty, enlightenment, or the physical enjoyment of use, makers can provide points of stillness in an otherwise turbulent world.

Martin Pearce | Allusive Forms

Contemporary Ceramics

17th October - 9th November 2019

Neil MacDonell | Finding a stark beauty in decaying industrial landscapes...

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:51:00 GMT

Neil MacDonell

"I remember becoming aware of the creative effects of fire when a neighbours wooden garage containing an ancient ash framed van caught fire. When extinguished there stood a fascinating labyrinth of standing charcoal. When I first started working with clay at college it was the transformation of materials during firing that held me in thrall - it still does."

Neil MacDonell writes about how the transformation of materials continues to enthral him; a process that is at the heart of working with clay as materials alters from one state to the next... raw materials to working clay, wet to dry, dry to fired... It can be argued that this transformation continues even when works are fully fired, as they move and respond to environmental changes.

Transformation is also found within his subject matter, seen in the decaying industrial landscapes. In this weeks post, Neil talks about the themes within his ceramic practise and his journey with clay.

Neil MacDonell

Finding a stark beauty in decaying industrial landscapes I am drawn to places of solitude and desolation. As nature reclaims these places I imagine the past lives and passions crystallised as crumbling wood and rusting steel.

The textures that appear in my work are derived from the fragments of detritus that I have found in such places and the forms are vehicles for these
patterns.

Over the 45 years or so that I have been working with clay I have built up a collection of hundreds of ‘bits’, mostly made of wood, steel or plastic but now existing in the form of flat clay moulds. Many are little larger than postcards but there are also plaster moulds of larger objects such as the surface of a car radiator and decomposing cardboard box. A particular favourite is a piece of architectural moulding made of zinc picked out of a dumpster on Broadway, NY. There is also a can with a battered surface devastated by time spent rolling with the tide along the shingle of the south coast.

Much of my work is wall hanging, assembled using small slabs of clay patterned by pressing onto a selection of my moulds. Work in the round is built in a similar way using the patterned face as a base and building upwards and outwards with more small slabs. The small flask, tube and other industrial forms that appear in some pieces are also hand-built but sometimes modelled to appear mass-produced. The making process can be rather slow but each piece is unique and my production obviously limited in quantity.

Some recent work features underglaze colours, reflecting the tones of residual paint found on some of the source material. Most pieces, however, are washed with suspensions of copper, iron or cobalt oxide before dipping in a dry ivory glaze and firing to 1280’.

Following a successful degree show, I had profit enough to buy my first kiln and continued making. Full-time secondary school teaching remained a
vocation. As my career progressed promotion served to increase my workload but I continued to produce and exhibit my own ceramics.

In 1990 I took leave of absence and drove 10,00 miles around USA visiting artists, galleries and teaching centres. Following my return to school, I was awarded a British Council Fellowship to teach in America but decided that I would rather return there as a professional maker. Thus in 1992, after 22 years of teaching, 17 of them specialising in ceramics, I left the profession and sold my house and moved from Lincoln to Bath to join Sally. Home became the garden basement of a shared house with a studio next door. Being able to focus full time on my own work was a great joy and more than compensated for the reduced financial security. Working contacts enabled us to travel to America and Australia and it was an invitation to show at a
market in France that introduced us to European ceramics and artists. We had also discovered ‘Potfest’; the northern ceramics market founded and run by visionary potters Geoff and Chris Cox. Meeting Dutch potters at this event led to invitations to attend markets in the Netherlands and Germany.

We are now happy to be part of a group of travelling European makers.

Peter Beard | In Conversation with Contemporary Ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 15:42:00 GMT

Peter Beard

In this weeks post, we talk to Peter Beard about the new work in his current exhibition and delve into his history to discover the events that started his journey with clay.

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Peter Beard: I find the creation of ceramics extremely enjoyable, therapeutic and fascinating. Clay is a material with endless possibilities so I am always searching for the next exciting discovery.

Exhibition detail - Peter Beard | New Work

CC: How did you first get involved with working with clay?

PB: It started when I was at primary school, aged 8. My teacher brought some clay into class; we had no kiln and were allowed to model only one thing. I have a strong memory of making a cartoon space rocket (Dan Dare style). I painted it with bright blue poster paint. I must have been told that if you mixed water with the dry clay it would go back to being soft again, so I took it home, put it in water, got it back to clay and used it to model other things. All this happened in Southport, Lancashire.

My father got a job in London and we moved to southeast London where at the end of our road was a pottery making slip cast children’s nightlights. It was run by the wonderful, kind, eccentric Peggy Foy. As a very shy 9 year old I asked her if I could have some clay and in those days clay was in 50kg bags. She gave me half a bag, which I had to drag all the way home as I couldn’t lift it. I started modelling things such as our pet guinea pig and tortoise and generally played with the material.

When I was older I got a Saturday job at Peggy’s pottery and worked there during school holidays. I simply loved it. Working at the pottery was a man named Andrew Appleby who now runs a pottery in the Orkney Isles. He was very interested in archaeology and built reproduction Roman kilns in the woods nearby. I helped him when I could and learned more about clay and the firing of it.

Exhibition detail - Peter Beard | New Work

I went to a school which had a very progressive art course and I decided on a career in art, much against my parents’ wishes as they thought I needed to get a “proper job”. But I persisted.

It was then time to go to college and for various family reasons I needed to go to the local college, so I studied industrial design and furniture design, which in retrospect gave me a very good education about other materials. We were allowed to take a different subject one day a week and there was a small pottery department in the college. I was nearly thrown off my course as I wasn’t designing furniture and the design staff never saw me. They thought I was just being lazy until I showed them what I had been doing in the ceramics department, a place they never ventured into and where I had shelves and shelves and shelves of things I had made. So I have a degree in industrial design and majoring in furniture design.

Peter Beard | Dark Blue Vessel

I then went to the Highlands of Scotland to help a couple I knew set up a pottery making domestic stoneware. I learned a tremendous amount, the main thing being that throwing 45 mugs an hour was too much like hard work and I left after a year to go travelling. I spent six months hitch hiking around Canada and the USA, which was great fun and stimulating, and returned home to open my first studio making one-off pieces of work.

CC: How do you work?

PB: I am a morning person so I start very early each day when it is very quiet in my studio which is in my garden. If I am making vessel-based work then I will probably throw as many as ten assorted shapes and sizes of pieces and if I’m making more sculptural work then I may work on two or three pieces at a time. I tend to make until I have approximately a kiln full and then, as these are beginning to be glazed I will start another number of pieces in clay. I do not have a set routine, I just do whatever job needs to be done at the time except with the glazing process. Because this is very complicated I put aside clear time, usually two days at a time, to glaze pieces to fill a kiln. I do a lot of drawing and I always carry a sketch book wherever I go. These drawings form the basis of new work.

Peter Beard - Grey Green Oval Form on Stone Base

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

PB: There is no room for images on the walls of my studio as they are full of shelves holding all sorts of different things, but I do have sketchbooks open and sketches on bits of paper scattered around on various surfaces as they are relevant to what I’m working on.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

PB: Over the years my work has gone through three distinct changes when I have felt that I have said all I need to say. There were times when I worked exclusively in porcelain. I have fired with gas but now use electricity. From the very beginning, my work has always been a mixture of vessel-based and sculptural work. I started off with one studio which was maybe 2m x 3m with a tiny test kiln and now I have two buildings in my garden, one is specifically for glazing and the other specifically for clay work. Over the years my workspace has not become any tidier or less cluttered. Most visitors can’t understand how I manage to work in the perceived chaos they see, but actually, I mostly know where everything is. I now have three kilns, one large, one used as a test kiln or for firing one piece of work and one which has a chamber 30cm x 30cm x 200cm long for making long thin things.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

PB: The first objects that really fascinated me were ancient Egyptian amulets. But many, many things now visually excite me.

Peter Beard | Grinding the ceramic surface

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

PB: As I said earlier, I never go anywhere without a sketchbook. I am also always looking at things to see if there is a potential idea in colour, pattern or form. When I go on holiday to some wonderful place everyone around me is photographing the view, or themselves and I am photographing some odd bit of tree bark, a broken flagstone, weird shaped fruit or anything else that to me looks interesting. I don’t think I ever really stop thinking about work.

CC: What role does a potter/ceramicist have in the 21st century?

PB: I think the role of any creative person, whether they are making utilitarian objects or pure art, in any discipline, is to enhance people’s lives, sometimes in a big way, sometimes in a small way, sometimes in a very personal way and sometimes in a much more general way.

I also think a creative person has a responsibility to make the highest quality and most interesting thing that they can at the time they are making it.

Peter Beard | New Work
Until Saturday 12th October 2019

Sally MacDonell | ...there is more we share in common than divides us...

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 13:01:00 GMT

Sally MacDonell with her work

For our current display feature, we are showing three makers: Dennis Farell, Sally MacDonell and Neil MacDonell. Both Sally and Neil work with the human figure. They share a studio in Bath, working independently, although they will often exhibit their work together.

We begin our exploration of their ceramic practice with a look at the work of Sally MacDonell. Sally is continually fascinated by people and the human condition, which she explores by modelling the female form from clay.

Work is on display and for sale in the gallery from September to the end of December 2019.

More images can be found on our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ceramicscentre/?hl=en

Sally MacDonell

An early start ...
I like to start early in the studio before the rest of the house has stirred. Rolling clay with the radio; intuitively beginning with a notion maybe carried from the day before. I model each piece spontaneously pinching and squeezing slabs to form the female body. Leaving the joins revealed as evidence of the process and to hold elements of colour in the glazing. My building technique involves pushing out from the inside to give the former twist of the waist or tilt of the shoulder expressing a familiar transient moment. My aim is to connect with the viewer - to prompt a feeling of common humanity.

Sally MacDonell | Three Torsos

The studio...
The studio is full of faces; images of artworks; pictures from magazines; family photos. My fascination and love of people have only deepened over the years. My habit of people-watching provides constant inspiration. Early memories of summer gatherings spilling over summer lawns; the quiet intimacy of a confidence shared between sisters. Such are the everyday moments of human intercourse that I seek to express.

Sally MacDonell | Head

Partnerships...

I have shared a studio in Bath with my husband Neil, ( known for his ceramic face constructions) for the last 25 years. We often show together, travelling regularly to America in the 1990’s to show in Baltimore and New York.

Attending Potfest in 1995 introduced us to a lifestyle and network of potters that was to lead us to ceramic markets and festivals across Europe with very small children in tow!

Sally MacDonell | Figures

Larger scale work...

Now, as said children complete their studies at school and university I have a renewed vigour to create larger scale work. I feel my faces have a strength and confidence. Their gaze more direct. Determined to share that commonality which allows us to be outward-looking and recognise how underneath it all there is more we share in common than divides us

Dennis Farrell | Interpreting his surroundings

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 16:17:00 GMT

We have been quiet for a couple of weeks with our blog posting, busy with exhibitions in the gallery and taking advantage of the late summer warmth in London to head off to the coast for a few days...

We are back this week with Dennis Farrell. We first sold Dennis Farrell's ceramics a few years back, when he took part in a Christmas exhibition, so it is nice to see him back in the gallery, this time with the inclusion of some larger vessels - the perfect canvases for his expressive painting.

Dennis draws inspiration from historical references. Observations directly influence his approach to form and surface, and the connections can be seen through his use of techniques and colour. Over the years, this has heightened his awareness of his surroundings and how everyday experiences subconsciously influence his practice.

Ceramics by Dennis Farrell will be on display and for sale in the gallery between September and the end of December 2019.

Contemporary Ceramics in conversation with the artist, Dennis Farrell.

Dennis Farrell in his studio

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Dennis Farrell: Quite simply I have always enjoyed being creative, expressing and interpreting what I see around me has always been the starting point for my artworks particularly my ceramics.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

DF: Art was my favourite subject at school and I was lucky to have young inspirational teachers who encouraged me. My Foundation Course was like being in an arts sweet shop, I enjoyed every technique and discipline. I was set on being a painter until I found the ceramics studio in the basement. Frank Egerton was a young tutor just graduated from Manchester Polytechnic and he brought a vibrant approach to the possibilities of working clay.

Dennis Farrell | Sweeping Landscape 60x27x39cm

CC: Are there new pieces or a new direction in your work that will be explored for this display feature?

DF: I use very similar hand-building techniques each time I undertake a block of work, however, the way I approach laying down the surface will be influenced to some degree by the subject matter I'm responding to at the time. Recently, following a study visit to the North East Yorkshire coast, I have become fascinated by the chalk cliff formations at Flamborough and North Landing. This has led to a more linear drawing like approach to surface and mark making. Recent pieces exploring these qualities are included in the group of pieces for the display.

Dennis Farrell | Secret space 15x11x29cm ht.

CC: How do you work?

DF: I have always drawn inspiration from historical references and what I see around me. The idea that we've tried to understand so much about human existence from the artefacts we have uncovered has played a part in the way I develop ideas for form and surface. For instance, the inspiration for my work in the seventies was drawn from seeing the demolition of textile mills and housing in West Yorkshire and East Lancashire. Once the buildings were opened up the scars of constant interior decorating created multi-layered patterns, torn edges and contrasting materials. These observations inspired an experimental approach to applying coloured slips using patterned cut sponges and paper resists combined with direct brushwork. The fragmented buildings encouraged me to look at archaeological fragments with eroded surfaces and semi-constructed forms. This led me to create forms that in themselves were perceived as fragments or sections of something more complete.

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

DF: Teaching ceramics has required me to absorb and understand contemporary and historical ceramics practice and references, this, in turn, has influenced my approach throughout the years. For instance, 16th-century Japanese ceramics, particularly the work of Ogata Kenzan, Oribeware and the work of Shoji Hamada have been significantly influential. Over time techniques have varied only slightly, but the subject matter has inspired changes in the way I express form and surface.

Dennis Farrell | Clifftop Walk

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

DF: Currently I have photos, sketchbook drawings and paintings from my visit to the North Yorks coastline, but I'm also referencing William De Kooning and Barbara Rae to absorb vibrancy and directness in their approach.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

DF: I can't recall a single 'oh my god' piece. In my teenage years, it was the work of the Impressionists that had an impact. In terms of ceramics, I was blown away by the work of Hans Coper in the Coper Collingwood exhibition at the V&A.

Dennis Farrell | Estuary Light 35x9x40cm ht

CC: What role does the potter/ceramist have in the 21st Century?

DF: To continue to engage in the relevance and importance of individual craft practice in an ever-increasing technological 'hands-off' society.

CC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

DF: Being engaged with the work long enough to absorb something for themselves

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

DF: I have been invited to meet many students groups and have made friends worldwide through my clay practice over the years. Also, my practice has heightened my awareness of my surroundings and how everyday experiences can subconsciously affect my approach.

Dennis Farrell, September 2019

Midori Takaki | Ceramic sculptures - an ideal output for imagination and observation

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 13:56:00 GMT

It is unusual to find working with clay being used as a way to cure sleeping problems, but for Midori Takaki her sculptures make real her daily observations and imaginative ideas, in this way clearing her mind.

She has created a range of bottles specifically for Contemporary Ceramics characterising a delightfully mixed collection of animals.

Here, she talks with the gallery about her inspiration and way into working with clay.

Contemporary Ceramics: Why do you do what you do?

Midori Takaki: I found ceramic sculptures are the ideal output for my imagination and observation. I’m more fluent with clay than in English. By making them, I empty my brain and actually, I am able to sleep well. Creating cured my sleeping problem.

CC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

Midori Takaki | Bottles

MD: By sheer chance. I reluctantly accompanied my husband to an evening class. He wanted to make Japanese pottery for us so that we could eat Japanese food on them at home. I thought it was going to be a waste of my time and money.

CC: Are there new pieces or a new direction in your work that will be explored for this display feature?

MD: Yes, I have made a series of bottles for it. They are as close as my works can get to pottery, or vessels. As I was aware that most ceramic pieces in the Contemporary Ceramics Centre are vessels, I thought I would give a nod to them to show my respect.

CC: How do you work?

MD: I mainly pinch as much as and as wide as possible with my small hands because that is the most pleasurable way for me to work. But when I really need to, I do slabbing and, if I am really pressed, coiling, as the last resort.

Midori Takaki | Bottles

CC: How has your practice changed over time?

MD: It has changed all the time. Changing is part of what I do, and my point of what I do. The themes of my work have been my strong interest at that time.

CC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

Midori Takaki | Autumn Butterfly, Lavenders and Cherry Blossoms

MD: None. My studio has white walls without any images. I eliminate all images or polychrome features. I found images and colours are distracting from my concentration when I work from my imagination. I also don’t draw.

CC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

MD: Children’s book illustrations.

CC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

MD: My work is personal in lots of ways. I hope they have conversations with them. I know my clients do. And I certainly do.

CC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

MD: It cured my life long sleeping problem. I have also become more perceptive.

Slipped | Contemporary approaches to the traditional art of slipware | In conversation with Dylan Bowen, Doug Fitch and Nigel Lambert

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 10:41:00 GMT

Our current selling exhibition Slipped brings together three makers working with clay, all with contemporary approaches to the traditional art of slipware: Dylan Bowen, Doug Fitch and Nigel Lambert.

We take a glimpse into the creative lives of the three artists and their ceramics as they talk about their influences, approaches to making, and thoughts behind the work on display for this exhibition.

If you are able to visit our London ceramics gallery, you can see the pieces on display in our Emmanuel Cooper Gallery. For those who can't visit, the full list and images of exhibition pieces can be seen here http://cpaceramics.com/ccc/currentex . This post also includes a selection of photographs showing some of the ceramics from the exhibition.

Dylan Bowen

Dylan Bowen | Image: Ben Ramos

"At the moment I am interested in working with both clay and slip at the point of almost-collapse. Through the making and slipping process, there are a lot of changes – some planned, some just happen. " Dylan Bowen 2019

Contemporary Ceramics Centre: Why do you do what you do?

Dylan Bowen | Large Jug

Dylan Bowen: To try and express myself ?

CCC: How did you first get involved in working with clay?

DB: I started young. It is the family business.

CCC: Are there new pieces or a new direction in your work that will be explored for this exhibition?

DB: Yes, I am aiming at combining various elements of my existing work. The functional and the more sculptural.

CCC: How do you work?

DB: I work pretty quickly in series. 12 plates, then maybe some bottle shapes. Then spend some time working on new ideas. It depends what I need really, if I have a commission etc. I like variety.

CCC: How has your practice changed over time?

DB: I think it has. I don’t think I make the same mistakes quite so often maybe. I try to eliminate things a little earlier.

Dylan Bowen | Small Plate

CCC: What images keep you company in the space where you work?

DB: There is not much wall space. I have old exhibition posters, cards etc I have a picture of Miro painting in his studio that makes me feel pretty good.

CCC: What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?

DB: I think it was a piece of music. I used to play my Dad’s old 45s all the time. Eddie Cochran was probably my favourite. “Summertime Blues” “Cut across Shorty” “Something Else” They have a precise genius to them. I always wanted to have that direct communication in my work. To get to what’s really important, to plug straight in to the source.

CCC: What role does the potter/ceramist have in the 21st Century?

DB: Small but vital! to fight against homogenised blandness and boring lifeless tedium.

Dylan Bowen | Cut Shape

CCC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

DB: I hope they bring some excitement maybe? some humour, some life.

CCC: How does working with clay influence your life beyond the workshop?

DB: I am always thinking about my work. what’s next, what’s working, what do I need to do. It’s probably not a healthy influence.

Doug Fitch

Doug Fitch | Image: Kim Ayres

"My pots all refer back to a childhood experience in archaeology and draw their inspiration in form, material and decorative technique from traditional British pottery, which is reinterpreted in a contemporary fashion. " Doug Fitch 2019

Contemporary Ceramics Centre: What themes or techniques will you be exploring through the show?

Doug Fitch | Small Applique Swag and Sprig Jug, Honey

Doug Fitch: I will be adopting various traditional slipware techniques, exploring the manner in which a basic palette of materials can be used in combination, to maximum effect. Some pots will be decorated with a covering of a green, white or black slip, poured over surfaces of applied pellets and coils.

CCC: What is your process for making these pieces? What parts of the process do you particularly embrace or enjoy?

DF: The work will all be wheel-thrown. The throwing lines on the surface of my pots are left to echo the speed of hand and wheel during the shaping of the gritty clay, telling the story of the dynamic energy of their manufacture. Some pots are embellished with modelled birds, which are more caricature than literal interpretations.

CCC: What inspires your recent work?

Doug Fitch | Small Pellet Jug Green

DF: My pots all refer back to a childhood experience in archaeology and draw their inspiration in form, material and decorative technique from traditional British pottery, which is reinterpreted in a contemporary fashion. The natural world of the rural location of the workshop that I share with my wife, Hannah McAndrew, informs my pots every day, both in terms of shape and composition of decorative application.

CCC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

Doug Fitch | Sprig and Applique Mug

DF: I hope that people can get a sense of the pleasure and love that I enjoy in my life as a potter. The pots feel happy to me, I invest great passion and energy into their creation. I hope that is transmitted to the viewer. Because the pots have their roots in an ancient tradition, which is ever-developing, I aim to make work that adds something of myself as a maker in the 21st century. This should enable the pieces to fit comfortably into an ancient or contemporary environment.

Nigel Lambert

Nigel Lambert | Image: Ben Boswell

"I’ve always been interested in the process of making pots, evidence of the maker being seen in the finished work, not in a forced deliberate way, but with the natural marks that the potter leaves in the throwing and handling of soft clay." Nigel Lambert 2019

Contemporary Ceramics Centre: What themes or techniques will you be exploring through the show?

Nigel Lambert: It’s sometimes difficult making work for exhibitions, as my making has always been rooted in function, pots that are at home in a domestic environment. Pots are mostly small and made in multiples, to try and distil all my ideas and techniques into a few pieces to be displayed in an exhibition environment, is always a challenge. For this group of work I have been focusing on pieces that would be placed on the table on special occasions, a family gathering, a celebration with food.

Nigel Lambert | Oval Store Jar

CCC: What is your process for making these pieces? What parts of the process do you particularly embrace or enjoy?

NL: I will be making the work for this exhibition alongside the regular production of my workshop. Life in the workshop is a slow steady process, wedging all my clay, and throwing on my Korean/Continental kick wheel hybrid. Slabs for the handbuilt pieces are bashed out on a large concrete bench. Although using traditional materials and processes, I use these in a contemporary way to develop and grow my practice. The work is fired in one of my two wood-fired kilns; a large 80 cuft trolly kiln and a small more versatile pheonix design kiln, which I fire more frequently. I see my work as a linear process, from wedging the clay - through to throwing, slipping, glazing and firing; stoking the kiln taking on the same rhythm as throwing and decorating. It’s about moving and thinking at the same pace.

CCC: What inspires your recent work?

Nigel Lambert | Side Plate

NL: I’ve always been interested in the process of making pots, evidence of the maker being seen in the finished work, not in a forced deliberate way, but with the natural marks that the potter leaves in the throwing and handling of soft clay. This informs how I work. My inspiration comes from all I do in my daily life; the colours, the textures, the food growing in the garden, how I’m going to cook it, and the way I want the food to look when presented, a walk through the city when I’m in London. All these are filtered down into the pots and painting I apply to the surface of the pieces.

CCC: How do you hope people experience your ceramics?

NL: I want to pass on the joy and excitement I feel when I’m making my work, through the pots when they are at the table. I see a pot as not quite complete until it is presented at the table filled with food, bringing everyone together.

Nigel Lambert | Large Oval Jug

Photographs(unless named): Dee Honeybun

Slipped

25th July to 17th August 2019

Ross Emerson | Using every process in the book and others I have invented...

noreply@blogger.com (Contemporary Ceramics ) — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 11:13:00 GMT

Ross Emerson | Building Candlesticks

Ross Emerson is one of four new makers selling their work at Contemporary Ceramics Centre as part of our July display feature. His brightly coloured ceramics will be on display between July and the end of October 2019.

We are very interested to find out more about each artist and the inspirations and processes behind their work.

Ross shares with us his ways into working with clay and his approaches to making in the article below.

Further images of his work, together with the other featured makers, can be seen on our instagram page https://www.instagram.com/ceramicscentre/?hl=en.

Ross Emerson

"I knew I had stumbled into something that was to grow from an interest into a passion...

My first memories of clay were as a child, I used to dig a grey clay from the steam at the bottom of our garden. I used to fashion this into crude bowls or vessels that would then be left to dry until claimed back by the weather. I like to think this was an influence on the direction I later took.

In reality, I followed what I thought was the path of least resistance, Art College pre-diploma followed by a BA Ceramics degree 3D Design at Loughborough. It turned out not to be such an easy path, but I knew I had stumbled into something that was to grow from an interest into a passion. This was further compounded when I took up an intense and hard-working student/apprenticeship at what was then known as ‘Dartington Pottery Training workshop’.

This gave me an intensive training as a thrower and all that goes with running a workshop. At the time we were learning as well as producing pots that sold to many well-known galleries, under the tutelage of Peter Cook and Peter Starkey and with the added bonus of David Leach and Mick Casson as visiting mentors.

Ross Emerson | Candlestick

I soon learned that downtime was intrinsic to making the most of the work time...

I started my first workshop in 1980 with the aid of a craft council setting up grant and the use of a free workshop courtesy of my father. I built an oil kiln and for 3 years I produced thrown decorated stoneware. In those days I worked every hour I could find, never sure when to stop or take time off. I soon learned that downtime was intrinsic to making the most of the work time.

Today and for the last 30 years I work a 40-hour week max, and never on weekends and never after 5.00pm. This has been a strict policy and keeps me focused and efficient with my time.

Clocks

I work from quick sketches, where I am trying to see the initial concept of a design.

Ross Emerson | Clock

I have been making the clocks for the last 30 years. Every separate part made using every process in the book and others I have invented. This, for me, is the creative process I enjoy. I work from quick sketches, where I am trying to see the initial concept of a design. From there the challenge is to interpret it as a 3D object without losing the life and vitality of the original sketch. This is not always easy, as the methods of slab building are slow and mechanical; the immediacy is easily lost. To that end, I add as much or as many modelled parts as possible to give softness to the form.

I like to think of my time in my workshop as ‘playtime’. There is no greater pleasure than coming up with new designs, ideas and then working out how to make them. I use my wheel to make parts as well as pots in their own right. I consider myself a decent thrower though have no interest in the mass production and repetition throwing I used to do. I stopped this years ago when my back could take it no more. So now sporadic and short periods on the wheel suit me fine.

Ross Emerson | Clock

As well as the construction side of my work, I love the decorative part as well. My Father was an exceptionally talented painter and therefore it was always an area I felt completely inadequate. It did leave me with a love of colour and because I was decorating/painting on clay it felt like my own thing. I work with red earthenware clay that is then painted with white slip before any decoration. The ranges of colours that are available today allow me a complete palate from which to start. While I love every aspect of my work process, I really envy the potters who throw pots dip them in slip and fire them in a salt of wood kiln.

Ross Emerson | Building a Welk Dish

Having and using pots is the greatest pleasure, whether my pots or others, I feel it give purpose to what we do.

I find I have many pots around the house; some are mine many are bought from others or swapped at Markets. Having and using pots is the greatest pleasure, whether my pots or others, I feel it give purpose to what we do. Strangely enough I cannot drink tea from an earthenware mug, it must be stoneware, which rules out any of mine." Ross Emerson 2019

The Latest: Good Things We See and Do and Share

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:52:57 GMT

Hello, Tumblr — we’ve moved! For behind the scenes blog posts, updates, and other news, check out the Heath Journal.

For the absolute latest, more good things are over on Instagram — we’ll see you there!

Remembering a Beloved Collaborator and Friend

Sun, 03 Dec 2017 19:33:42 GMT

Rich Roat was co-founder and co-owner, along with Andy Cruz, of House Industries of Yorklyn, Delaware. Andy called us Wednesday with the unimaginable news that Rich had passed away that morning. Healthy, active, creative, energetic, and leaving a wife and two teenagers without a hint of any such tragedy on the horizon. These are the moments you don’t expect, when you hear news that makes everything in your body sink to the bottom of your stomach, and you find out the bottom of your stomach is lower than you thought it could be.

We’ve worked with Rich and House Industries on many projects over the past ten years or so — ceramic house numbers and clocks designed with their fonts. We’ve come to rely on their obsessive devotion to detail, always driving us to do better work. Rich was insanely bright, passionate, and humble. He and his team are those people you hope to know and work with, who inspire you on many levels, personally and professionally, and make you want to be better. The loss of Rich feels unmeasurable.

Rich’s approach to his job was to make it as close as he could to what he’d want to be doing if he didn’t have to have a job — and we can’t think of many who stuck to that philosophy better, requiring both wisdom and guts along with a little bit of just going for it because it’ll make you happy if it actually happens.

Over the years we learned how much in sync we were around the crossing over of design, creativity, and business. That if we don’t do things because we’re going to be inspired, learn new things, and enjoy the people we’re working with it’s not worth doing. That we learn and get better by trying things and learning, and building upon what we’ve done before; that it’s the process not the strategy. And, that it makes some worthwhile business sense will come from the faith that these ingredients make the magic, Rich taught us all this. After a while when working with Rich, we didn’t have to explain these approaches to our work, they just seemed obvious, and we looked forward to seeing what new creative endeavor — only when it “felt” right — might bring us together again. That we learned these things about each other on long bike rides, or while putting together workshops and events that invariably featured a live performance from the Mattson 2, made it that much more fun.

So while we are heartbroken as we say goodbye to Rich, a beloved collaborator who’s meant so much to Heath, to us and our family, we celebrate all that he helped us accomplish together and how we inspired each other over many years. Rich helped make us better people and made our work better, too.

Behind the Scenes: Summer Seasonal Collection

Sat, 01 Apr 2017 17:00:12 GMT

We’re fond of simple beauty and subtlety. And this summer is no exception. Welcome to the muted and soft shades of Summer ’17: Fog, Sequoia, Rosemary, Hydrangea, and Peony. A delightful combination of matte glazes, the season includes a new wax resist technique on our vases. These glazes are available for a limited time on timeless Heath pieces, like our Rim nesting bowls, tall tumblers, serving pieces, candles, containers, and Ornament clock.

Heath Summer Seasonal 2017 from Heath Ceramics on Vimeo.

This year’s special technique gave us a chance to experiment with a wax resist on our single stem and bulb vases. We use a wax mixed with blue stain, which is then applied by hand with a sponge, then spray-glazed with Fog, our soft green glaze that you’ll recognize from our tile collection. The result is an earthy, organic pattern. Each vase is highly unique in its pattern and glaze variation, reflecting the handcrafted nature of production.

We’ve also brought together coordinating goods for your home, including Esque pitchers, new cutlery from David Mellor, white oak cutting boards from Jacob May Design, and linens from Adelene, Alabama Chanin, and Non-Perishable Goods. And that’s not all: You’ll find seasonal Heath Jewelry (including some with the wax resist technique), and custom necklaces and earrings from Julia Turner, too.

The Summer Seasonal Collection is now available online and in all Heath showrooms.

Photos: Jeffery Cross and Heath Ceramics.

How to Start Your Own Cookbook Club

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 21:54:26 GMT

At Heath, one of the things that brings us together is the belief that sharing a meal is a meaningful everyday act. Although we often gather in our workplace around meals, last year we started a new tradition that revolves around meeting at the table, trying new recipes, and sharing our experiences.

Inspired by an article about a soup club amongst friends, we formed a Cookbook Club at our San Francisco location. Open to everyone at Heath, the dinners quickly took off — a love for food, after all, is a natural fit for a company known for dinnerware! Conveniently, we sell a rotating selection of cookbooks in our showrooms, and Cookbook Club is a great way to become more familiar with our inventory. And what a delicious way to learn.

For us, it’s been a wonderful way to gather folks across departments, expand our cooking skills, and, of course, enjoy a good, home cooked meal. We can’t recommend it enough! If you’re feeling inspired, here are some tips to help you get started.

Start a planning committee. A group of three form the core of Cookbook Club: they set the date, select the cookbook, and organize the logistics. Ask around to see who’s interested, and get two people to help you get started. First, figure out the logistics and what’s required: where and when makes sense to meet and what sign-up system makes the most sense for your community. Our initial steering committee created a task-list for day-of setup and breakdown, which we refer to each time. Finally, draft up an announcement that explains the event and lists details on how to sign up. The initial logistics may take some extra legwork, but once you have a system in place, it’s easy to make this a recurring event (we dine together every 1-2 months).

Find a space. Ideally, you’ll want a space that can accommodate final food prep and post-dinner clean up. Though people bring their dishes fully cooked ahead of time, there’s always a whirl of reheating and finishing touches before we sit down to eat. Additionally, we rearrange our breakroom tables and benches in order to form a single, large dining table, and then set it with proper linens, metal cutlery, and Heath dishes (we’re lucky to have fully stocked dinnerware cabinets at our disposal). Consider off-site options if you don’t have convenient access to a sink and stove, oven, or microwave at work. Post-meal clean up is important to keep in mind, too; we all pitch in (and bring storage containers for leftovers!).

Choose a cookbook. If you’re starting your own club, think about what sort of meal you’d like to share and what the relative kitchen skills of your community are. Some cookbooks are better for novice cooks, others for aspiring chefs. And some are highly focused (a meal of breakfast foods, or sandwiches), while others cover a broad range of types of dishes. If you’re looking for inspiration, browse a Heath showroom or a local bookstore with a good cooking section (try Omnivore in San Francisco!). Or consider asking your coworkers and friends for ideas — maybe there’s someone who always brings in interesting leftovers who could lend a book from their personal collection. Once you choose a book, determine a communal way for people to browse and sign up for their recipe ahead of time.

We keep our sign-up simple: we keep Post-It notes and a pen by the cookbook in our break room, and we set it out about two weeks ahead of each dinner. Everyone who is interested in coming chooses a recipe and makes their own copy. We’ve found that each dinner yields a good variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Of course, it helps if the cookbook you select features food in each of those groups, too.

Some of our favorites: The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters; Seven Spoons: My Favorite Recipes for Any and Every Day by Tara O’Brady; Near and Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel by Heidi Swanson; Everything I Want to Eat by Jessica Koslow; and Dinner at the Long Table by Andrew Tarlow.

Keep it inclusive. Cookbook Club can be a great way to learn new cooking skills, try new ingredients, and stretch your recipe repertoire. But not all of us are master chefs, and some weeks get too hectic to take on additional tasks. We always have an open invitation for folks who don’t pick a recipe to bring drinks, bread, and cheese; and keep in mind that most cookbooks include a few options for the cooking-averse: who can say no to avocado toast?

Consider bringing supplies like dinnerware and linens from home if you don’t have them in the office, or pool resources to thrift for scrap fabric and make your own set (we had two crafty Heath-niks who did this from leftover fabric banners!). Keep overhead low, so you won’t run into obstacles that keep you from the main point: gathering together to share a good meal.

Enjoy the meal, and talk about it! Once we sit down to eat, we naturally end up in a conversation about our experiences with the recipe and its preparation — how did it translate from the page, what was the process like, and would you make it again? It’s a great discussion, and it’s a fun way to get to know each other, too. One of our favorite tales was at the first Cookbook Club, hearing our coworker Gabriel describe making grape jam for the first time — he patiently squeezed each single grape to yield juice, drop by drop. At the end of the meal, as we share dessert, we put names of all attendees in a bowl and draw a winner to take home the copy of the book. Everyone signs the book and adds personal notes for their dish, like a yearbook. It’s a touching way to end the meal, and keeps us feeling inspired to pick up a cookbook next time we’re wondering what to make.

Read on here for a recipe from Jessica Koslow’s (of Los Angeles’ Sqirl restaurant) Everything I Want to Eat.

Jessica Koslow’s Shredded Vegetable Socca

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 21:22:55 GMT

We’ve long admired the delicious yet still health-conscious food from Sqirl, the popular Los Angeles breakfast and lunch restaurant from Jessica Koslow. Although we love a good brunch on the weekend, we also enjoy cooking at home, and we started a company Cookbook Club to cultivate our skills and enjoy a good meal with each other. Recently our club got a copy of Jessica’s debut cookbook, Everything I Want to Eat — and she graciously let us share our favorite recipe from the night with our readers. Bon appétit!

Shredded Vegetable Socca

By Jessica Koslow. Reproduced with permission from Everything I Want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking (Abrams, 2016)

INGREDIENTS

1 pound/455 grams zucchini, carrots or winter squash, peeled and coarsely grated on the large holes of a box grater or with the grating attachment of a food processor
Fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon coriander seeds
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
4 large eggs
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
⅔ cup/80 grams chickpea flour
Black pepper
Pinch of ground cinnamon (use only with winter squash)
Pinch of ground ginger (use with squash)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, more as needed
½ cup/120 milliliters labneh or whole-milk Greek yogurt
3 cups/60 grams spicy salad greens (such as watercress, arugula or baby mustard greens)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

1. Toss grated vegetable with big pinches of salt. Put it in a fine-mesh sieve and let drain, squeezing every so often so that the vegetable releases its water, for at least 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Toast the spices, shaking the pan often, until fragrant but not burned, about 3 minutes. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind toasted spices to a powder.

3. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add drained vegetable, along with garlic, oregano, mint, cilantro, chickpea flour and toasted spices. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper, and mix well. If you are using winter squash, stir in cinnamon and ginger. (The pancake batter can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge.)

4. Melt butter in a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Spoon in two ½ cupfuls of the pancake batter. Use the back of your spoon or a spatula to flatten each to ½-inch thick. Cook, rotating the skillet for even browning, until pancakes are nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Flip, then cook the second side for another few minutes. Transfer pancakes to a plate. Repeat to make 2 more pancakes, adding butter to the skillet if needed.

5. Season labneh or yogurt with salt to taste. Just before serving, toss greens with lemon juice, oil and salt and pepper. Top each pancake with a dollop of labneh or yogurt and a tangle of greens.

Five Reasons to Register at Heath

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 02:04:03 GMT

For us, every registry is personal. It’s about people, and it’s about relationships — long lasting ones. When you register with Heath, you become part of the Heath family and we take that responsibility pretty seriously.

We hear stories all the time from folks who’ve used their Heath dishes for decades, and we love being included in peoples’ histories and legacies. It’s an honor to be a part of your special event and to get to share with you some of our values at Heath in different ways. Here are our favorite five ways that a Heath registry lets us share our traditions with you.

Our registry’s “secret sauce” is our people, whether they’re in our showroom, or part of our three-person Customer Service team. We’re exceedingly familiar with our products and know all the little tricks to make the most of your new Heathware; plus, we can help you navigate through the new world of registries. Rest assured that, beginning to end, you’ll always have someone to lean on, whether it’s to help inform your selection of glazes, suggest accompanying flatware, or coordinate shipping.

Unlike online-only retailers, our brick-and-mortar stores give you a chance to pick up the products in your hands (trust us, it makes a difference!). If you’re in California, come into our four showrooms and talk to us in person. You can experiment with place setting combinations until you find one that feels just right, and we’ll update your registry with you onsite. And if you want, you can even take a tour of our factories.

Of course, if you’re not close to one of our stores, you can always talk to Tressa, our registry specialist, who has years of experience helping people through the process, virtually.

And speaking of mixing and matching sets, we offer a 10% set discount for our dinnerware. Learn more here.

At Heath, we offer two types of registries: Conventional and Virtual. These options allow you to control how you receive your registry items in a way that makes sense for your friends & family and lifestyle.

A Conventional registry gives your guests the option to purchase in any of our four showrooms or heathceramics.com, and each order ships out right away.

A Virtual registry exists digitally (online-only purchases), and enables you to easily make changes to your registry, even after items have been paid for by your guests. Once you have the final assortment that you’re ready to receive, you choose a ship date that is most convenient and we ship all together — it’s a great way to control the build-up of boxes in your living room!

If your registry has outstanding items but you’re ready to get the ball rolling (read: eat dinner off your new plates as soon as possible), we offer Heath registrants a one-time completion discount of 15% toward remaining registry items. Just send us a note after your event date, and we’ll take care of the rest. (Read more about completion codes on our Registry FAQ page.)

With dishes and home accessories that are made honestly, with intention, you’ll feel good about selecting Heath for your registry. You’d expect every thing we make to be designed for longevity and made with integrity and care for our people and our environment. But that same ethos carries through to the items we carry in our stores and online, too.

We’re choosy about who we work with. If we carry their products, it means that we feel good that they’re makers and independent companies whose values we share. They design with integrity, and manufacturing and making is a core part of what they do.

It’s all part of what it means to be part of the Heath family, sharing values, great design, and goods with heart.

Learn more at our registry webpage, come into a showroom, or talk to our Customer Service team. It could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Photos: Mariko Reed (3), Aubrie Pick (4), and Heath Ceramics

A huge thanks to our employees and partnering organizations for...

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:57:16 GMT

A huge thanks to our employees and partnering organizations for our first annual Heath Service Day, which took place on Monday, January 16 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and part of #NationalServiceDay.

Clad in Heath: The Norton Simon Museum

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:03:46 GMT

On a recent trip to Southern California, we stopped by the Norton Simon Museum — previously the Pasadena Art Museum — to check out its extensive art collections and sculpture garden and, of course, its unique Heath Tile exterior.

As we browsed and admired the volcanic-textured cladding of large, 5” x 15” custom Heath Tiles, we started to wonder about the backstory. A little digging through the Heath archives and oral history unearthed it.

The Norton Simon building – completed in 1969 – was designed by architects Ladd & Kelsey. The firm approached Edith with a request she’d rarely said yes to before: to design custom tile for the project. Fortunately, this time, Edith said yes.

The project was so successful that in 1971, Edith received the highly prestigious AIA Industrial Arts Medal award from the American Institute of Architects, marking the first time that a non-architect was the recipient of such an honor.

In an oral history from 1995, Edith explained that the large-sized tile was unique since its size meant that tile setters didn’t need to cut the tile onsite: “My idea was that tile should be designed to ‘fill a space’ as in filling a space with canvas. [… I] designed the tile so it would fit the common dimensions that were used in architecture.” (This notion now seems a precursor to Edith’s later passion for modular building components, such as extruded clay forms, a construction medium Edith considered to be structurally sound, cost effective, and environmentally conscientious.)

The building’s design evoked Hadrian’s Tomb, an ancient curvilinear site in Rome. Edith was initially asked to create tile with a textured relief reminiscent of the stones, which she resisted. Instead, she suggested that working creatively with glaze would yield a more compelling effect.

Her expertise in glaze-making came into play. She began experimenting with layered glazes — a process we continually explore even now — to produce a glazed tile inspired by the inherent variation of natural materials.

“As glazes melt, they boil. A lower melting glaze would boil up through a stiff glaze that is on the top, creating a volcanic bubbly eruption frozen in time.” After multiple layered glaze experiments, Edith honed in on Brick Red laid over Onyx — two glazes we still make today (for a similar effect in contemporary tile, we suggest our Layered Glaze Paprika-Gunmetal).

The effect was richly textured and pigmented, complementing the nearby Pasadena Mountains. The deep umber color varies from light to dark, which is one of our favorite things about working with handcrafted tile. That character and personality that comes through can’t be beat. Not in 1969, and not today, either.

The Norton Simon’s gorgeous exterior has not only stood the test of time, but weathered it well. The condition of the museum to this day is a testament to the durability and function of tile as an exterior cladding, a usage we here at Heath wish we saw more of.

We continue to expand upon Edith’s legacy, both in her commitment to integrating tile fully into the design of a space and in passionately exploring the possibilities of glazes, as in the most recent Heath Clay Studio project, Design Series 4: Alchemy.

Photos: Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley (top) and Heath Ceramics.

All historical information is from “Tableware and Tile for the World: Heath Ceramics, 1944–1994, Oral History Transcript,” Edith Heath interviewed by Rosalie Ross. Edited by Julie Gorden Shearer and Germaine LaBerge. Copyright © 1995 The Regents of the University of California. See pages 210-213.

Tressa Crabb: Registry Specialist to the Stars

Tue, 03 Jan 2017 20:32:11 GMT

heathceramics:

Sorry, we can’t tell you who the stars are (and besides, everyone’s a star), but we can certainly tell you a little about Tressa, our Registry Specialist, who’s been a part of so many big celebrations – not just weddings and commitment ceremonies but New Homes, Big Birthdays, or Just Because.

A member of our Customer Service team, Tressa’s been our Registry Specialist since 2012. It’s a job that calls for a rare mix of traits, like a great eye, deep product knowledge, and modern etiquette IQ. From time to time, it also requires the instincts of a therapist and the talents of a seasoned diplomat. We caught up with Tressa in between phone calls and emails to dish a little.

How’d you come to Heath?

I was born in San Francisco and raised in Sonoma County, so of course I knew about Heath. And pottery was a big part of my life growing up: my mother is a huge lover of ceramics and china. My father also had a taste for studio pottery. So you could say it’s in my blood.

So are you a collector too?

Oh yes. My family knows this about me, and when they give me things, it’s dinnerware! I just love looking at the china in my china cabinet.

Whoa, hold up. You have a china cabinet?

I know, I know. Not many people do (particularly if they’re not married) but I’m proud of it. And since I love cooking at home, I do use my china everyday.

Come on. Not every day.

Yes! Pretty much every night, I set the table (and I’ve trained my boyfriend to do it, too). I light candles and bring out the china. After a long day, I don’t want to spend an hour and a half prepping and cooking a meal, only to chow down, leaning against the counter. [Wow. We’re impressed, not to mention inspired.]

OK, let’s play a speed round. What’s the most important thing to keep in mind when I’m putting together a registry?

A registry is a great balance between what you want, but also about being realistic about who you are, and who your guests are.

How many place settings?

I am all about less is more. And these days, it’s less about number, and more about how you really live: how much storage you have, how you entertain, etc. The really great thing about Heath is that we are NOT always changing up our collection, discontinuing lines, or anything like that. So it’s not like you have to get it all now.

And how many things should I put on my registry?

It depends on the number of guests for your event, and making sure that they have enough to buy! And people should consider price range: you should balance more expensive things with less expensive ones, or have something that would be good for people to go in on together as a group.

What do you think people like the most about registering with Heath?

People love to be able to mix and match. I think it may be the knowledge that you’re really creating your own collection, something that really reflects you.

Do you find yourself offering design advice?

All the time. People love to ask questions about color and shape all the time. They want to know what the do’s and don’ts are. And the answer is that, with a few exceptions, so much of it depends on the registrant’s preference when it comes to mixing and matching. And one of the best things about Heath is how good it looks with other kinds of dinnerware: so you can mix something new with something your grandmother gave you. I have a blue Spode Willow Pattern collection, and my Coupe and Chez Panisse dinnerware looks great with it.

What are your favorite questions to answer or problems to help with?

My favorite question to answer is this one: “After we get married, do we get a discount on things we didn’t receive?” I love that: because the answer is yes!

What surprises you most?

That people don’t redeem their virtual registry credit! People hang onto it for a long time and that often blows my mind! If I had a bunch of Heath registry credit burning a hole in my pocket… wow. I would be dangerous.

Thanks, Tressa. Have more questions? Give our Customer Service team a call, send us an email, or come into our showrooms—each location has a designated Showroom Registry Specialist, so just ask! Learn more about Heath Registries here.

– Regina

In case you have extra big news to share and big beginnings ahead as 2017 starts off, here’s a throwback to our favorite tips on Heath Registries.

Happy New Year! Here’s to another great year of designing,...

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 18:00:41 GMT

Happy New Year! Here’s to another great year of designing, making, and celebrating with good friends. Watch our roundup of 2016 highlights at Heath, and have a great new year.

Shhhh... quietly gearing up for the year ahead

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 18:43:58 GMT

Peek into our Sausalito and San Francisco factories this week between Christmas and New Year, and you’ll notice that something’s different.

First off, it’s quieter. No sounds of kilns and dryers. No beeping of forklifts. No sounds of glaze being sprayed on tiles and dinnerware. Next, the eagle-eyed Heath fan might notice that things aren’t in their usual orderly positions with neatly demarcated corridors and open spaces. In fact, things might even appear downright askew with racks jammed together, lines snaking out in unusual positions, jiggers and spray booths pulled apart, and kilns standing open and vacant.

What’s going on?

Our annual holiday shutdown, a long-time Heath tradition, that’s what. It’s tempting to think of it as a time of idleness, when everyone kicks back and relaxes, but it’s actually one of the most important and busy times of the year for us. During our “shutdown,” we do the work it takes to make our factories hum for the year ahead, making sure they’re the productive, safe, and efficient spaces they need to be for our people and what they make.

Despite the fact that everything we do is handcrafted, we do still use a fair amount of equipment, which needs its own intensive TLC on a regular basis. Our shutdown is a time for some intensive preventative maintenance on each piece of equipment: doing things like changing out hydraulic fluids and bearings, testing safety and environmental systems, making sure duct and drain lines are clear, and that all equipment like our kilns, mixers, pugmills, forming machines, are whistle-clean and operating in top condition.

There are other projects as well: the 2016 shutdown in San Francisco also means some major projects such as reconfiguring lines and adding rack capacity. In Sausalito, some long-overdue sprucing up is taking place in the administrative areas.

So we’ll start the year with things in good working order, but there’s an additional benefit to the shutdown as well that’s not just about our equipment but our people, as well.

Instead of bringing in outside maintenance teams to handle all the work, we rely as much as possible on our own factory staff (led by our maintenance and facilities staff). There are several reasons we do things this way.

First, we get to keep our people busy and we get to see their smiling faces during the holiday shutdown period. But we also get some more subtle — and longer term benefits. Production team members get to acquire new skills and learn ways of fixing things from seasoned engineering and facilities professionals, which helps Heath, and helps them.

Another less obvious, but still important, benefit is that production workers get to learn more about the equipment they work on every day, and gain new perspective on how what they do affects the way the equipment functions in the long term. This can help our production team troubleshoot different problems that arise everyday.

And, finally, our engineering staff gets the satisfaction of being able to focus on completing projects, something that can feel a little impossible during the hurly burly of the “regular” work day when they’re pulled in multiple directions.

So, as much of the world slows down, we’re still at it, working a little differently. By the start of production next week, the equipment, racks and lines will be back in their proper places. All order will be restored, just in time to greet the year ahead.

Photos: Heath Ceramics and Mariko Reed (2, 4).

Holiday Shipping Guide

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 22:36:23 GMT

Don’t forget! Put in your orders by the dates on the map and use ground shipping to receive your gifts in time for Christmas and Chanukah.

Ground shipping uses less fuel and makes less of an impact on the environment than does air. Plus, you’ll still get your order in time for the big day.

Shop the Remodelista Market for a good cause (or two!)

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 18:52:43 GMT

This weekend at Heath SF, come shop amazing work sold by indie vendors, makers, and artisans chosen by beloved online mag Remodelista. It’s a great show and one of the most unique holiday markets, made greater by the fact that this year, your purchases will help support some good causes.

Heath will be donating a portion of this weekend’s sales to Pro Publica and 1% for the Planet, Remodelista is donating 50% of profits they make from the show to the Oakland Fire Relief Fund set up by the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (a nonprofit organization supporting the Bay Area arts community), and several of our favorite artisans are donating a portion of their proceeds to various causes, too.

Àplat: Donating portion of proceeds to Autism Week Celeb Chief Speaks, SFUSD.

La Fortuna: Donating portion of proceeds to Freedom to Choose Foundation.

Modern Shibori: Portion of proceeds to Planned Parenthood.

Petel: Portion of proceeds donated to send children to school in Mauritania, West Africa. Every $150 spent funds one year of school per child in Mauritania.

Silvia Song Studio: Donating 20% of sales to ACLU.

Come join us Saturday and Sunday, support independent craft, meet the artisans while you shop their wares, and give to good causes at the same time.

Remodelista Market Hours:

Saturday, December 10 from 10 am–5 pm

Sunday, December 11 from 10 am–3 pm

It’s all in the details: Our packaging philosophy

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 18:00:26 GMT

’Tis the season for all things holiday, and one of those things that often gets overlooked is a topic we think is pretty important: packaging. Of course, many of us have festive gift wrap top of mind, and many are placing orders online to have presents mailed to our loved ones who live far away, hoping it all arrives in time (tip: check out our shipping timeline on our Customer Service page!) — and safely.

We want your products to arrive safe and sound no matter how you order, and a lot of thought goes into our packaging.

We design packaging we’re proud of. Overly-wrought and excessive packaging is wasteful and expends too much of a toll on the environment. Done well, packaging prevents breakage and is as important as the design of the product itself.

Shipping

For shipping, we use Expandos, which are fillers made from post-consumer chipboard to secure our shipments. They’re fully recyclable, as are the cardboard boxes your order arrives in. We don’t offer gift wrapping for shipped orders, since the the safety of your products is our number one priority in how we design our packaging for traveling. We recommend ground shipping over air freight to further minimize the environmental impact of transportation (read more here).

Showrooms

In our four California showrooms, we typically wrap our ceramics in good old-fashioned, post-consumer newspaper. We give it a second use and keep it from ending up in the landfill. Plus, after you’ve unwrapped your ceramics at home, you can toss that newspaper right into the recycle bin. We think it looks pretty cool as-is, but the holidays tend to mean dressing up a little, and we get that, too.

Gift wrapping

For gift wrapping in our showrooms, we use tissue paper and shredded newsprint to cushion products inside boxes and bags (by the way, we’re always happy to take your old magazines!). We also keep a roll of kraft paper handy to aid in wrapping those inevitable tricky-shaped items. All our paper bags and chipboard boxes all hand-stamped with our logo. The result? Simple, classic packaging that you can feel good about and toss into the recycling bin after use.

Some of our products come already packed in special boxes, like our Heath House Clock, which supports the six-pound clock in a structure made just for that purpose — a design that’s as beautiful (and functional) as the product within. We knew that we’d need a way to securely package the clock from our factory and shipping to retail shelves, and finally to customer’s homes. A handsome, printed cardboard box ended up being the most durable material, with the benefit of being fully recyclable. (We talked to Dwell in-depth about our design process when it launched, take a look over here.)

If you’re feeling inspired to go the extra mile for gifts, we love hand-stamped wrapping paper. Just use simple kraft paper and a set of charming stamps (like the Yellow Owl kits, available in our showrooms), and get started!

We also carry tenugui cloths for completely reusable, Japanese-inspired wrapping in our San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sausalito showrooms. After you give the gift, tenugui can be used for anything from headbands to home decoration.

We’re happy to provide you with a paper bag, but please keep in mind that in some areas (like San Francisco and Marin), there’s a city-mandated fee. Why not make the bag part of the gift? A Heath tote (available in our showrooms) makes a great reusable bag, and we’ve got a whole new selection of colors and prints for this season. Now that’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 17:00:26 GMT

All our showrooms are closed today. Enjoy your feasts!

(Photo & styling: Alanna Tobin-Taylor, http://bojongourmet.com/.)

Plan ahead & keep it green: Heath shipping for the holidays

Mon, 21 Nov 2016 18:00:15 GMT

Meet our shipping team: a small but fierce group of people working hard to get your orders to you safely and on time. We don’t use robots or drones to assemble our packages; we use our hands! Just like our products are handcrafted in Sausalito, we follow suit in our shipping department.

We love that Heath lovers come from far and wide to our four California showrooms and online store. This season, whether you’re stopping by one of our four California showrooms to place an order for a friend, or you’re browsing online with a gift list in mind, here’s a rule of thumb to help you make the most of shipping:

Order early for the holidays and choose ground shipping whenever possible: it’s good for the planet, and good for you.

Choose ground shipping over air whenever possible. Shipping by air uses up more fuel than ground, and thus leaves a larger carbon footprint. According to the National Resources Defense Council, “Ground shipping is going to use less fuel than air. So, the more you can avoid having things shipped overnight mail (or whatever is going to require air), that’s probably a good way to think about it.” And we agree.

Getting our products safely to your doors in a green way is always our preference, and avoiding expedited orders (like 2-Day Air and Next Day), is one of the simplest ways to do that.

Luckily, a little extra planning ahead of time for holiday orders gives you the flexibility to make that choice. It also reduces your stress!

And, of course, it’s also a good idea to order early during the holiday season to make sure you have the best chance at finding what you’re looking for, since our inventory can be limited the closer we get to the holidays. Ordering early helps you get what you want, and know that you can feel good about how it gets to where it needs to go — now that’s something we’d like to share with you this season and for many years to come.

Helping you plan ahead.

We’ve made it easy to plan ahead, too. In order for your packages to arrive by the start of Christmas and Chanukah, order by the dates below:

Questions? Give us a ring or send us an e-mail, and we’ll be happy to help. Happy holidays!

Shipping orders in the Heath SF warehouse ready for delivery.

Photos: Heath Ceramics.

Lots of seconds in Sausalito for our annual sale. It starts...

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 18:26:56 GMT

Lots of seconds in Sausalito for our annual sale. It starts tomorrow Friday the 18th at 10am in Sausalito, SF and LA. We’ll also be offering a discount online Friday-Sunday. Sign up for the Heath monthly newsletter (at Heathceramics.com) to get the discount code! (at Heath Ceramics)

6 Tips for Heath’s Open Studio & Annual Sale

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 17:00:00 GMT

It’s almost that time! Starting this Friday, our Annual Sale kicks off in San Francisco, Sausalito, and Los Angeles: get 20% of all in-store purchases and 15% off online orders (plus, free ground shipping on orders over $175 in the US).* And our Open Studio weekend is jam-packed with workshops, special tours, and more in all participating locations. *Read the fine print and check out the full schedule for all participating locations here.

It’s always a flurry of activity, but it’s also our favorite time of year. We can’t wait to see you — whether you’re there first thing on Friday, joining a wreath-making workshop on Saturday, or swing on by Monday afternoon (yes, we will have restocked our shelves!).

While you’re planning your visit, here’s a handful of tips to make this year’s Open Studio and Annual Sale seamless once you get here.

1. Don’t forget to eat.

Seriously! We know it’s easy to forget the basics when you’ve got your trip all planned out and you’re in “go” mode. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with coffee in the morning and lunch in the afternoon at all locations on Saturday and Sunday. Stay hydrated, eat snacks, and have some fun!

Sausalito: The New Village School is bringing coffee and baked goods, starting at 10 am on Saturday and 11 am on Sunday. For lunch, Let’s Be Frank is on-site from 12–3 both days.

San Francisco: We’ve got the Del Popolo pizza food truck out front from 12–3! It’s an Open Studios staple (and staff favorite) at Heath SF. Looking for coffee? You can get your caffeine fix at Tartine by ordering inside at the coffee bar — no need to wait in the regular line, unless you want pastries (and you probably do).

Los Angeles: The Paramount Coffee Project is on site to provide coffee and baked goods starting at 10 am Saturday and Sunday. Plus, on Saturday, join us for kiln cookies starting at 11 am. It’s a Heath LA tradition!

2. Shop with an open mind.

Yes, this is a perfect chance to cross items off your wish list, but don’t forget about the element of surprise. Our Annual Sale includes seconds, which always have a rotating inventory. Discovering something new that catches your eye in our showrooms is half the fun.

3. Bring a friend — or two!

We limit entry when our showrooms hit capacity, so keep in mind that there might be a wait to get in during peak hours. Why not keep each other company? Plus, once you’re in the showroom, you can divide and conquer. Flying solo? A perfect time to catch up on your podcasts.

4. Learn something new.

A lot of our neighbors and friends show up to this annual event, but we also know a lot of you travel from far and wide to attend our sale. For those of you making a full day (or weekend!) of your visit to Heath, come take advantage of our workshops and tours and make it a leisurely outing. We’ve got free tours of our factories, original Sausalito building, and SF creative campus, as well as workshops on wreath making, letterpress printing, Japanese gift wrapping techniques, and bud-vase glazing (most are already sold out, but waitlists are available). Not sure how your days are going to shake out and don’t want to commit in advance? Check in with us the day-of the workshop you’re thinking of taking — we may be able to secure you a spot.

5. Don’t sweat it.

Though our sale can be quite crowded with longer checkout lines on Friday and Saturday mornings, the afternoons are still a great time to shop. And by Sunday and Monday, you can shop at a more leisurely pace. And there’s a bonus: you may nab an overlooked gem from earlier in the weekend. And while we can’t guarantee that everything will be in stock all weekend long, take heart: we do replenish our supplies over the weekend. You’ll always find something wonderful, no matter what time you drop by.

6. Can’t make it to a showroom?

We get it. That’s why we’re offering an online special Friday—Sunday. Shop online with the code ANNUALSALE at checkout to get 15% off your order, plus free ground shipping on orders over $175 within the US. All you have to do is browse and click. We’ll do the rest.

Open Studio & Annual Sale, Nov 18-21

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 23:25:52 GMT

The secret’s out: Our Annual Sale is just around the corner! From Nov 18-21, get 20% off all in-store purchases,* and sign up for workshops, tours, and more. Get all the details here.

*Some exclusions apply.

Our Sausalito shop is all stocked up for our annual sale. It...

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 20:47:33 GMT

Our Sausalito shop is all stocked up for our annual sale. It starts tomorrow Friday the 18th at 10am in Sausalito, SF and LA. We’ll also be offering a discount online Friday-Sunday. Sign up for the Heath monthly newsletter (at Heathceramics.com) to get the discount code!