Solo Show by Studio Potter Paul Philp

Vol. 1 Winter 21/22

Solo Show

by Studio Potter Paul Philp 25 Nov, 21 – 25 Feb, 22

Collection of stones on window sill, Bath, UK

Yvonna Demczynska

I first came across Paul Philp’s vessels when visiting a collector’s home. Philp’s vessels stood out in the collection; I immediately fell in love with them. The variety of forms and combination of glazes was most unusual.

Since that encounter, I have been thinking about how wonderful it would be to exhibit Philp’s work at the Gallery.

Paul leads a very discreet life with no website; it was not easy to find him.

Kindly the collector made an introduction so that I could visit his beautiful studio and atmospheric home. We are so delighted to share our passion for his work in a new exhibition at Flow Gallery.

Introduction

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Paul Philp

by Emma Crichton-Miller

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When Paul Philp’s brother, the art dealer Richard Philp, first began to show Paul’s work at art fairs, in the 1990s, people would ask, “From what culture do these come?” The confusion is understandable.

Philp’s pots are painstakingly built by hand in a fashion dating back to the earliest human cultures.

Their stoneware surfaces are treated variously with incremental layers of oxides, wood ash glaze and slip, through multiple high temperature firings, giving them the highly-textured, sometimes encrusted, appearance of natural objects or relics newly dug from the ground. Their colours are muted but never dull, ranging from the dark blues and greys of stormy skies to a chalky white and the forms echo archaic shapes, of ancient vessels and dwellings. They breathe in sympathy with our deft

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and ingenious ancestors. And yet, these objects are definitively modern.

Each is unique and uniquely expressive - there is nothing generic about them.

Some play with our perception of space, seeming to tease us with a dimension half way between two and three. Others have asymmetric profiles or sloping lips, irregular ridges or grooves, curved indentations or unusual angles that declare the artist’s creative decision-making at each turning point in the process. Even where the shapes derive from traditional ceramic forms, the surface becomes a place for experimentation.

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Paul Philp is quite clear.

“I

am

classical in

the

Barbara

seeking feeling British Hepworth

a -

restrained, but

Modernist and

Ben

classical sense

of

Nicolson”

Philp who turned eighty this year has been a potter for most of his adult life, but it is over the last thirty-two years that he has truly discovered his medium. Brought up in the Welsh countryside, the son of a well-known antiques dealer, Philp remembers his father returning home, when he was about fifteen, with an astonishing collection of Tang Dynasty ceramics. Inspired by these objects, Philp discovered Bernard Leach and St.Ives, choosing in his later teenage years to spend his summers potting in St Ives. Aged eighteen he took a summer job at the Crowan Pottery, in Cornwall, with Harry Davis, making refined stoneware functional pieces and getting to know the local potters. After a period working in the family business in Cardiff, Philp went to Cardiff Art School for a year to study ceramics. A small inheritance enabled him to buy a cottage, stable block and coach house in Glamorgan near the sea, where he began making functional ware. Married young, and with small children, it was a struggle to earn a living, and after a stint in London, where he mainly designed and built gardens, Philp and his wife took the opportunity to buy a ruined farmhouse and mill in Monmouthshire. Philp says, “That house saved my life.” For fifteen years, he rebuilt it lovingly, using salvaged, traditional materials, with a passion for the authenticity of the place, its buildings and its landscape. He and his family lived there without electricity, self-sufficiently growing vegetables and raising chickens, pigs and even some sheep.

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“I imagined a gallery in St Ives and what my pots would look like in that space.”

The fascination with clay had not left him however. In 1989, Philp bought a generator and a small kiln and began to make pots. Having found it hard to make a living by catering to an unknown audience, he tried instead to make work that would suit him.

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He adds, “I love the natural textures of stone and the different effects that nature produces.

I wanted to combine classical form with natural, rugged surfaces.”

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The smallness of the electric kiln means that he can carefully control every aspect of the process of each pot – a mastery he enjoys. He recognises the affinity of his work with many continental makers, who also cherish clay’s ancient origins, but his work draws too on his deep interests in ancient cultures and the history of art.

In 2010 Philp moved to Bath where he has created another beautiful studio and home around a tiny courtyard, from two stables. Here he continues to make the pots which have won him audiences internationally but also to experiment with new forms and materials - including alabaster. One recent new departure has been the creation of wall pieces that echo the calm abstract shallow reliefs of Ben Nicolson.

As Philp puts it,

I have

3

a very restless mind.

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1 Oval bowl with handles 2 Paul walking down to his living room from his own Private Collection at home 3 A selection of Paul Philp’s ceramics at Flow Gallery 4 Paul Philp’s studio 5 Paul Philp in his studio

4

I do have to try things.

5

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Catalogue

All works for sale

PP1

Large light vessel, with straight neck H34cm × Ø26cm

PP2 O val bowl, with small filled handles light glaze H25.5cm × L30cm × W11cm

11

PP3 S quare base bowl with bluish-brown white glaze H18cm × Ø24cm

PP4

Vessel, dark green glaze, with bluish green handles H22.5cm × L24cm × W11cm

PP5

Flat oval base greyish glaze H25cm × L23cm × W11cm

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PP6 O val bowl with handles, darkish pink green glaze H21.5cm × L29cm × W15cm

PP7 Tall twisted vessel, light H34.5cm × L26cm × W9cm

PP8 Tall vessel with handles, light H37cm × W22cm × D6.5cm

PP10 Tall oval vessel, blue H41.5cm × W18cm × D4cm

PP9 Tall square vessel with handles, light H25cm × W17cm × D14.5cm 15

PP11 O val footed vessel darkish green inner, light H15cm × W28cm × D15cm

PP12 D ark circular vessel, blue H19cm × Ø25cm 16

PP13 Lidded vessel darkish green blue H19cm × W16cm × D11cm

PP14 L arge light vessel, with lugs H33cm × Ø31cm × Top Ø16cm

PP15 Light circular vessel Ø31cm × H18

PP16 L arge dark vessel, with straight neck H31cm × Ø31cm × Top Ø10cm 18

PP17 O val vessel, light with bluish green glaze H18cm × W35cm × D20cm

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PP18 Tall twisted vessel, with bluish inner H43cm × W23cm × D9cm

20

PP19 S quare vessel with bluish-brown white glaze H17cm × D19cm × W19cm

PP20 O val vessel, with angular handles H18cm × W35cm × D29cm

PP21 F ooted bowl with bluish-pink glaze H13cm × Ø22cm

PP22 Light tall vessel, with angular handles H32cm × W26cm × D7cm 22

PP23 Light, wall relief, wood, paper & stucco H44cm × W58cm

PP24 D ark, wall relief, wood, paper & stucco H50cm × W60cm

PP1 L arge light vessel, with straight neck £2,900 H34cm × Ø26cm

PP13 Lidded vessel darkish green blue £1,600 H19cm × W16cm × D11cm

PP2 O val bowl, with small filled handles light glaze £1,800 H25.5cm × L30cm × W11cm

PP14 L arge light vessel, with lugs £2,900 H33cm × Ø31cm × Top Ø16cm

PP3 S quare base bowl £1,600 with bluish-brown white glaze

H18cm × Ø24cm

PP15 Light circular vessel £1,800 Ø31cm × H18

PP4 Vessel, dark green glaze, with bluish green handles £1,600 H22.5cm × L24cm × W11cm PP5 F lat oval base greyish glaze £1,600 H25cm × L23cm × W11cm PP6 O val bowl with handles, £1,600 darkish pink green glaze

H21.5cm × L29cm × W15cm PP7 Tall twisted vessel, light £2,900 H34.5cm × L26cm × W9cm PP8 Tall vessel with handles, light £3,200 H37cm × W22cm × D6.5cm PP9 Tall square vessel with handles, light £2,500 H25cm × W17cm × D14.5cm PP10 Tall oval vessel, blue £3,900 H41.5cm × W18cm × D4cm PP11 O val footed vessel darkish green inner, light £1,800 H15cm × W28cm × D15cm

PP16 Large dark vessel, with straight neck £2,900 H31cm × Ø31cm × Top Ø10cm PP17 O val vessel, light with bluish green glaze £1,900 H18cm × W35cm × D20cm PP18 Tall twisted vessel, with bluish inner £3,900 H43cm × W23cm × D9cm PP19 Square vessel with bluish-brown white glaze £1,600 H17cm × D19cm × W19cm PP20 O val vessel, with angular handles £2,200 H18cm × W35cm × D29cm PP21 £1,600

Footed bowl with bluish-pink glaze H13cm × Ø22cm

PP22 Light tall vessel, with angular handles £2,900 H32cm × W26cm × D7cm PP23 Light, wall relief, wood, paper & stucco £2,600 H44cm × W58cm PP24 D ark, wall relief, wood, paper & stucco £2,600 H50cm × W60cm

PP12 D ark circular vessel, blue £1,600 H19cm × Ø25cm

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Photographs b y Chloé Rosetta Bell & Peter Stone

Essay by Emma Crichton-Miller

Introduction by Yvonna Demczynska