Contemporary Ceramics gallery and shop exhibits the greatest collectable names in British ceramics along with the most up and coming artists of today. Our distinguished makers are all carefully selected members of the Craft Potters Association.
All of our makers are members of the Craft Potters Association and each of them have a story to tell.
Having enjoyed making from a young age, Jo completed a degree in jewellery and silversmithing at Edinburgh College of Art before embarking on a career in retail management. It wasn’t until her children started school that she enrolled in a pottery course, where what had begun as a hobby quickly became an obsession.
Jo works from her home studio in Fife, producing wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics decorated using the sgraffito technique. Her inspiration comes from two distinct strands: nature - particularly wild plants - and mid-century architecture and pattern. The botanical pieces celebrate weeds that are often overlooked or disdained, allowing their architectural beauty to shine, while the geometric designs explore a detailed interplay of pattern and form, resulting in complex, graphic surfaces.
Jo works from her home studio in Fife, producing wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics decorated using the sgraffito technique. Her inspiration comes from two distinct strands: nature - particularly wild plants, and mid-century architecture and pattern. The botanical pieces celebrate weeds that are often overlooked or disdained, allowing their architectural beauty to shine, while the geometric designs explore a detailed interplay of pattern and form, resulting in complex, graphic surfaces.
Peter Beard’s work has been exhibited around the world and is represented in numerous museums, public collections and private collections in the UK and overseas. The award winning artist has a contemplative approach to making and spends much of his time sketching out ideas for new pieces.
David read philosophy and literature at Warwick University. Realising the lack of jobs as a philosopher, he became a potter and taught part-time in the ceramics department at Wolverhampton University for thirty years. This allowed him the space in which to continue with his personal practice. He was awarded a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016. David used the inquiry within his thesis to examine the question of how he could employ the language of materiality, making, and firing (particularly raku) to critically focus on issues of personal identity.
Michelle studied Ceramics at Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 1994. The course focused strongly on sculptural ceramics and encouraged a fine art approach to creativity. Students benefited from a wide range of visiting artists, and Michelle was fortunate to have Magdalene Odundo as an external assessor, who inspired a dynamic and fearless approach to the materiality of clay. It was the hands-on nature of the material, and the opportunity to learn a craft, that first drew Michelle to ceramics. Since then, she has continually sought to explore its boundaries, expanding her knowledge and skills through daily practice.
Petra trained in the South East and then gained a degree at Cardiff before joining Wobage Workshops, South Herefordshire in 1995. She and her husband, Jeremy Steward, also a potter, live on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean. They were invited to join the Wobage studios as part-time apprentices to Mick and Sheila Casson, a role they maintained until Mick’s death in 2003.
Hilary's practice responds to observed details in the landscape with current focus on the geology and topography of the Suffolk coast, a place she has frequented for over 20 years; where the flat land meets big open skies and has a beguiling beauty all of its own. Erosion is a constant theme of this exposed coastline. The elements, battering, wearing, sculpting; imprinting the landscape over time and leaving their mark.
