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.
Clive Bowen was born in Cardiff in 1943. Initially studying painting and etching at Cardiff College of Art from 1960 to 1964, Clive went on to train as an apprentice with Michael Leach at the Yelland Pottery in North Devon from 1965 until 1969. He worked alongside Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge before setting up his own pottery in 1971 when he bought a small agricultural property at Shebbear, near Holsworthy in North Devon and set up a workshop in the former farm outhouses.
Sasha Wardell has been working in bone china since 1982. Her formal training in ceramics included both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and industrial training secondments to L’Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, Limoges, France, and the Royal Doulton design studio, Stoke on Trent, UK.
An industrial approach to the traditional bone china manufacturing process has strongly influenced the way in which Sasha presently works, reflecting her fascination for methods and materials which present a challenge. It is for this reason that bone china, with all its idiosyncrasies, has remained her favourite material.
When Bev was at art school in the late sixties, her final thesis focused on the relationship between natural forms and clay. However, it was only since 1978 when she moved to Wales, that she developed her work to relate directly to where she lives.
Erum entered ceramics through an unconventional path, beginning her professional life as a physicist before transitioning into a creative practice. While she later received formal ceramic training, much of her development has been self-directed, allowing her to integrate scientific observation with material exploration.
Shirley has been making things for as long as she can remember. With a background in textiles and a degree in Surface Decoration from Leicester Polytechnic, her early fascination with ceramics began while visiting the ceramics department, which felt to her like an alchemist’s world. Years later, during a period of personal change, she joined an evening hand-building course and was immediately drawn to clay. What began as a source of calm and focus has since developed into an intuitive, largely self-taught practice.
Verity is a ceramic artist creating works that explore mystery, trigger memories, generate atmosphere and evoke a sense of place. She makes distinct bodies of work, taking inspiration from the landscape, history, and culture surrounding her in rural Herefordshire. Using clay as a medium for drawing and monoprinting, Verity creates sculptural, slab-built, ceramic forms. It is important to Verity that the form and surface of her work create a harmonious composition and are integral to her subject matter.
