Potters EMERGING
Issue 41
OctoberDecember 2025
Introduction
Welcome to the last edition of the magazine for 2025. For this one I have tried to include anyone missing from the Ceramics and Glass course at the Royal College of Art. Again this year the number of applicants from around the world make it one of, or even the college, internationally to provide a post graduate course in ceramics.
The Summer Show at the Royal Academy included ceramics but I still don’t understand why given all the new interest in ceramics it is not represented more widely. Perhaps anyone who receives the book ‘A Green Approach’ for Christmas might find some of the reasons there.
This year I decided to go to both of the shows for ‘New Designers’ over at Islington. So glad I did. The second week had again a very good representation of product design. Overall the shows were busy and had a wealth of new talent from the art colleges, even though not everyone was represented. One reason I had the students was the sheer cost of exhibiting these days.
Should anyone be travelling to York next year then a trip to the Centre of Ceramic Art has to be a must. Titled ‘Not A Pot’ is a new show there. Star works from the collection include Bernard Leach’s masterpiece the ‘Leaping Salmon’ vase and William Staite Murray’s monumental ‘Kwan Yin’ jar
The magazine is an independent journal. The publishers do not accept any liability for errors or omissions. The views expressed in the features are not necessarily those of the editor. Reproduction in part or whole must be with the consent of the editor. All rights reserved. 2025.
And finally a big congratulations to the British Ceramics Biennial who had massive TV coverage. Well deserved and well timed.
“A new collection launched for this
Tsoiyam Ip. New Designers
Royal College of Art Ceramics and Glass
The Royal College of Art (RCA) in Lon don has been ranked the number one university for art & design internationally for the 11th year in a row, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 –the largest world- wide survey of academic and industry opinion, with other UK institutions also being highly ranked. The latest results demo nstrate the College's reputation with an overall score of 97.4 percent.
As with previous years, the University of the Arts London takes up the second place in the Art and Design rankings, with both UK institutions ahead of major international universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design and Parsons School of Design in the US, and European institutions such as Aalto University in Finland and Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Meanwhile, the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music are named number one and number two in the Performing Arts rankings.
Title :Cuckmere Haven, Seven Sisters
Yeonju Hong
Royal College of Art – Ceramics and Glass
Shiying Bian (Right)
Shiying (also known as Eleven), is a Chinese glass and ceramic artist. The work focuses on exploring the relationship between time, nature, and material transformation, often inspired by the Chinese Twenty-Four Solar Terms. Through working with fragile materials like glass, she aims to capture fleeting moments and the beauty of change.
This work is part of the graduation series “Disrupting the Natural Flow,” which explores seasonal transitions and the subtle sounds of spring’s awakening.
Title of Work: Awakening of Insects · First Sounds
Materials: Porcelain, lampworked glass
Her work is titled Parrhesia, which is a Greek word that explores the moral duty to speak the truth, even at a personal cost.
It is a deeply personal piece that reflects the invisible "fertility window" of women, and the seemingly unknown facts that although we are born with over 2 million unfertilised eggs in our ovaries we only in fact have 450/500. Here she has suspended 450 porcelain eggs representing each of her own wasted/ spent eggs, leaving just shadows behind.
Nicola Russell (Left)
Royal College of Art – Ceramics and Glass
Evguenia Ignatenko
Fragment Movement
Evguenia is from Moscow, Russia. She communicates the entanglement between humans and materiality using photography, movement and participatory experiences. The work invites audiences to ‘make kin’ with thing-beings, such as clay, and reflects on how deep engagement with matter can recondition us towards care. The performance serves as a rite of passage, an appeal to relinquish fear and embody fluidity, and an expression of the artist’s understanding that there is nothing beyond the material.
Zixuan Zhang
Title: The Dialogue
This project is about creating and displaying the dialogue between ceramics and glass as materials.
It is also about herself when creating ‘the dialogical process of making’ with the materials chosen by engaging with them. The dialogical process is straight forward: it is about handling the materials through a series of techniques.
The main techniques she explored are 3d printing (with ceramics), and mould blowing (with glass). The unique aesthetic created by the selection of techniques and design of forms speaks of the contemporary reinterpretation of traditional craft. In other words, an attempt to link intangible cultural heritage to a contemporary perspective.
Royal College of Art – Ceramics and Glass
Anji Ji
She obtained her BA in Fine Art and Sculpture from Camberwell College of Arts, and then went to continue her artistic journey by pursuing an MA in Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art. Her practice explores the subtle relationship between material, spirit, and the power of transformation and transience. Drawing from Chinese philosophical and spiritual traditions, she engages with concepts such as Five elements, yin and yang, and the balance of opposing forces. She seeks to give form to invisible energies and emotional states.
Through unpredictable glaze reactions and the ritual of firing, she captures fleeting moments and suspended tensions.
Dean Hollowood
Dean’s practice is firmly grounded in the act of making, immersing himself in the physicality of the process, improvising with found tools and crafting objects that serve as formers. He exploits gesture by actively displaying marks made during production as a trace of history and authorship.
Each new piece is an experiment, investigating balance and surface via the volatile interplay of energy and matter within the kiln. By embracing risk and the fortuitous transformations that occur during firing, Dean retains a sense of animated dynamism and gives life to the work. Equal credence is accorded to both the form itself and the spaces held within and around the clay body, fostering arrangements that provoke contemplation about our interactions and relationships.
Royal College of Art – Ceramics and Glass
Yilina Yang (Opposite)
Yilina’s ceramic practice explores the tension between permanence and decay. Combining Vanitas traditions with contemporary cultural fragments, her shimmering, illusionistic forms evoke a sense of fragile desire. Animalistic surfaces—scales, skin—gesture toward both seduction and loss. She is the recipient of the R.J. Washington Bursary 2025.
Viviana Jeon
Digital Sculpture Frottage ceramics, digitally printed velvet, motorized rollers, metal frame 2025
Digital Sculpture Frottage explores themes of melancholy and psychosomatic transformation in the context of contemporary hybrid existence. She handbuilds with clay, drawn to its transition from fluid to solid an embodiment of inner tensions shaped by external forces. Through the repetitive process of scanning and sculpting, she works with both clay and digital images simultaneously to reflect how we navigate the boundary between physical and digital realms.
By generating new three-dimensional forms from scanned two-dimensional images, the work gives physical shape to fragmented, heterogeneous emotions and the layered melancholy of individuals living within hybrid identities.
The title, “frottage,” traditionally refers to a technique for transferring textures from 3D surfaces onto paper.
Royal Academy Summer Show 2025
Held every year since 1769, the Summer Exhibition showcases a diverse collection of contemporary works, which includes ceramics. In total there are 1,700 different pices of work by famous makers as well as members of the public.
Conversations with my fellow academicians
£180,000.00
Most are available to buy which is why the process are quoted next to the catalogue entry here, many for less than £250.00. Highlights this year include a playful, large scale installation by Ryan Gander in the courtyard, featuring five 3-metre inflatable balls.
Sir Grayson Perry RA (Left)
Alice Mara (Above) Satallite Dish Window From £295.00
Marice Cumber (Above) The vessel of my family
Ruaidhri Ryan. Shirt £3,600.00
Zena Assi. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman 1&2 £10,500.00
Emma Christmas Solent Avocet. £625.00
Pollyanna Johnson . I am, aren’t you? £2,500.00
Joey Rutherford Pickle Scream £50.00
Anna Snowdon Control Release 2 £2,500
Sadar+Vuga (above) Helga,Wine Bottle Rack
From 2,200.00
Yuming (above)
Gua Shu Di Luo From £2,050.00
Book Review
tracked by the title as it is one of the few books which bridges the difference between those starting out in the ceramics industry and those looking to start studios catering for those who are termed hobbyists.
The book raises more questions than can be easily understood for beginners, and with references as to which is the most environmentally acceptable way to work in today’s rapidly changing economy.
Quote: Making pottery has never been more popular - as a hobby, a life style change or a possible career. Sadly the route into this profession has never been more difficult as a result of the decline of ceramics courses in schools, colleges and universities.
With the change of the traditional entry into the world of ceramics from apprenticeships, college courses and evening courses run by local councils has come a prepackaged society where clay is prepared, many students not being in control of the firing process and a reliance on prepared glazes, all of which dilutes the skill of the potter. Not to mention the knowledge of different clays, and the need for experiment.
by Kevin Millward
Ceramics: A Green Approach
Published 21 August 2025 | Paperback | 224pp | £25 | 9781789941944 The New Ceramics Series. Published by Herbert Press , an exciting imprint of crafting books by Bloomsbury Publishing for makers of all levels.
Book Review. Ceramics: A Green Approach
Millward also exposes the need for trained teachers in ceramics to retain its integrity, especially in the new sector of pottery studios offering teaching to newcomers. This book goes a long way in demonstrating what is needed and quite a few do’s and don’ts to keep studios safe.
Throughout the book Millward makes a welcome reference to his own time working in both commercial studios and teaching. He has a technical knowledge and practical skills in making ceramics to order. Some of his anecdotes from his early years would make a book in their own right.
Throughout this book he examines the arguments for and against trying to be as ‘green’ as possible in how to run a studio in today’s very different environment.
The chapter which looks at clay and what it actually is, exposes the myth that ceramics are not made from clay at all but from bodies. But, they are linked to the temperature they are fired at which determines their classification. Or put another way most clay dug out of the ground needs some processing to make it pottery.
Quote: Some bodies only contain 25% of a natural occurring clay. For example bone china consists of 50% calcined cow bone, 25% china clay, and 25% Cornish stone.
Book Review. Ceramics: A Green Approach
The book goes on to explain that all the clays used in ceramics are all recyclable before they are fired, making it a very green material.
There is a chapter which looks at the relationship between the different type of clays and the basic types of glaze to use. Often other books go into a lot of technical detail, but here it is a straight forward guide.
Returning to the theme of the book – ‘a green approach’ Millward looks at whereabouts in the world raw ingredients come from and how they are mined. It goes on to look at how safe oxides are, and how they should be handled safely. Throughout this chapter there are some very useful charts to refer to.
Quote: One of the primary ways to protect the environment is to ensure that no metal oxides enter the water course or food chain, by not disposing of oxides or glaze residue down the drain.
With the cost of fuel continuing to rise, the most cost efficient and green method of firing continues to be of concern for all potters. Each method has its drawbacks – electric, gas, wood or oil-fired. Both for domestic and industrial use.
Glaze application. Dipping a biscuit- fired pot.
Photo copyright Kevin Millward
Book Review. Ceramics: A Green Approach
In Japan they may have found a way of producing low cost, clean hydrogen. A new type of nuclear reactor that is gas cooled enables it to run at much higher temperatures. This is one result of the Fukushima meltdown. One domestic source for potters could be the use of propane gas, but a lot more work needs to be done on this.
The book points out that many kiln manufacturers are abandoning gas kilns for more efficient electric ones. The problems with gas kilns arise from volume and health and safety issues.
Millward points out that potters working today can reduce their firing costs by the density and amount of kiln furniture, the thickness of the kiln shelves, and the type of props used. The industry has used larger kiln shelves with hollow sections to reduce the density and thus save money.
Most of the kilns now in use by the hobby sector use HTI 23 as they offer greater efficiency against the cost of building and firing, but can be more fragile. This book and its many insights is a good guide into what is most suitable for those who are starting out. It does beg the question. “if they are not been taught this at college how do they find out about what is on offer? Suppliers have always been the potters friend over the years but surely there is a wider education role.
Above : Kilns and Power Requirements. Silican carbinade kiln shelves in use in reduction gas kiln. Photo copyright John Jelfs.
Walter Keeler: Yellow polychrome glazed tea pot box. Photo copyright Walter Keeler
Book Review. Ceramics: A Green Approach
The second part of the book looks at the work and methods of a wide range of potters today. They are all professional potters making high-quality ceramics using a variety of styles and firing techniques. Each looks at the processes and materials which are used and how they can they lesion the impact on the environment.
One of those mentioned is Angela Verdon. A graduate of the Royal College of Art she has worked mainly in bone china, and fired with electric kilns. The work is unglazed with the whiteness and translucency are remarkable.
Walter Keeler is known for his salt glazed work, and is aware of the environmental impact this could have. He uses a salt kiln of a traditional construction, using heavy fire bricks.
The Lynmouth Pottery is the home of Russell Kingston and Jessica Turrell. The popularity of their work, means the orders outstrip the capacity of the kilns. An alternative could be wood, oil or gas. The cost of a gas kiln was prohibitive for them. The solution was to build their own, and their story follows the need to balance what is needed with what is affordable, and efficient.
The book follows the w ork of many other makers, which is invaluable for anyone wanting to upgrade their existing studio, or indeed just looking to start out. What they will find in this section of the book is practical examples from other potters allowing the reader to find the right choice for themselves.
Kiln fired on propane. This kiln is commercially manufactured to be as efficient as possible.
Photo copyright Adam Frew
About the author: Kevin Millward is an internationally renowned ceramicist who has been potting for over 40 years and has trained potters from all over the world.
He has worked at studios such as Cooper's Pottery, the Gladstone Pottery Museum and alongside David Leach.
He taught ceramics at Bucks New University and the University of Westminster and has more recently been series consultant to Channel 4's The Great Pottery Throw Down.
New Designers Show 2025
New Designers is the annual coming together of the art colleges and university departments for the creative arts from around the country. As such it is an important showcase for potential employers as well as a window for young students thinking of a career in the arts.
The ceramics section of the show for New Designers is a dynamic and everevolving showcase of creativity, craftsmanship, and material exploration.
It is a space where tradition meets innovation, and where visitors can talk to the students whose work is on display.
Whether designed for everyday use or as a conceptual project the ceramics on display are often a place where tradition meets innovation. The result is a rich, tactile, and visually compelling collection of work that reflects both technical mastery and a willingness to push creative boundaries.
With so many students on display it is not possible to include all, so the choice here is aimed at being just a brief overview of the quality and volume of what is being produced up and down the country.
For visitors it offered a rare opportunity to talk to the students who are about to start in the world of work.
Morley College
BTechHND Ceamics, Art & Design
Cherie McClymont (below)
Dogon Dance
Handbuilt with buff and black stoneware, and mixed media. The collection is rooted in the ceremonial spiritual dance of the Dogon Tribe. It explores form of the body as a sacred vessel, drawing influence from Dogon rituals. Beads and buffalo forms are not only symbolic elements, they adorn the vessel embodying protection and identity.
Morley College
Asme Sheikh (above)
‘An Island of Hope’
Hand -thrown ceramics: mixed clays, oxide, glazes, lustre. An island of Hope reimagines the traditional South Asian gullak (clay money pots) as a vessel that banks dreams rather than currency. The collection honours the South Asian medical professionals who immigrated to the UK in the 1960’s to serve in the expanding National Health Service.
Emma Cooke (below)
Permutations & Combinations (slipcast stoneware)
This is a collection of decorative ceramic vessels all formed from the same experimental 16 – part modular slip casting system. They investigate the creative space between design methodology and craft execution by subverting what is traditionally a method of mass production.
Morley College
Pip Sainsbury
In Over My Head
White stoneware, high gloss glazes, lusters, sound installation.
A series of white stoneware sculptures finished with high gloss glazes and lusters.
Scarlet Ford
The Camber Collection (Slipcast porcelain and stoneware)
Inspired by a deep love for the South Coast, and particularly the stark beauty of Dungeness.
Starting with handmade clay models and evolved into plaster prototypes and eventually into working plaster moulds. Using slip casting techniques, she has developed a variety of unique pieces in stoneware and porcelain.
The work explores the artist’s personal experience with intense emotions, focusing on the physiological responses that accompany these experiences.
Morley College
Tamineh Dhondy
River Jars
Ceramic vessels with glazes incorporating river water and sediment.
This is a ceramic installation featuring vessels named after UK Rivers devastated by pollution. Inspired by traditional Indian water jars – matkas and kalash – objects associated with care. Ritual and having sustena nce, these forms are reimagined as a meditation on heritage, contamination and environmental collapse.
Each vessel incorporates water and sediment from its namesake river into the glaze, allowing toxicity to physical shape the surface.
The vessels do not simply represent ecological crisis – they embody it, and by incorporating polluted waters into the glazes, contamination becomes a material language.
The project confronts the alarming reality of environmental degradation in UK Rivers.
University of Hertfordshire
Jacquie Follett (opposite)
A courageous ceramic artist who’s work reflects on her own health struggles and the fragility of life. Employing original methods refined through meticulous experimentation, she creates impossibly fragile, translucent layers of porcelain clay formed into a shape that is recognizable as ‘home’.
The firing process itself, with its chance outcomes, echoes the traumas and the difficulties of human life, and in her own case, the destructive treatments she continues to endure.
Predictable Beauty, Unpredictable Truth
This body of work explores the theme of order and control within the everyday life of an autistic individual, reframing structure, and routine as sources of beauty, strength, and emotional grounding. Often misunderstood, routine plays a vital role in providing safety and predictability in a world that can feel chaotic or overwhelming. Rather than portray this as restrictive, the artist presents it as a deeply meaningful system of navigating life.
A key part of the process involves the use of tape to create clean, controlled lines – echoing the care, intent, and focus that maintaining routine often requires. Through this work she invites the viewer to reconsider perceptions of autism, and to recognize the beauty and power in systems of order that bring clarity and calm.
Rachel Gay (Right)
University of Hertfordshire
Tsoiyam Ip (Left and cover )
Originally from Hong Kong, Tsoi moved to the UK only recently and now works as a ceramic artist exploring themes of belonging, memory and care. Being far from home has led her to reflect deeply on the moments spent with her family of six, shaping the primary focus of her work on the love and care shared between fami ly members.
Tsoi specializes in wheel- throwing, with each piece individually thrown on the wheel and finished by hand using diamond sandpaper to achieve a smooth, tactile surface. Each piece is a quiet pleasure to hold. Working primarily with porcelain, sh e is drawn to its strength, quiet elegance, and cultural significance.
She has revisited those who wrote in her teenage diary, As well as her own experiences, she has reflected their handwritten notes, portraits, photos and stories in collages on ceramic plates.
Born in Iran –“The turquoise needs to be cared for properly, otherwise it dies,” The work shows glimpses into the lives of women in Iran: the acts of resistance and the price they pay.
Parisa Motevasselzadeh (opposite)
Manchester School of Art
Louisa Akka
With Wellbeing in Mind. Ceramic, Iron. Sculpting, burnishing and sanding.
Her practice explores the scientifically proven link between Forest Bathing and wellbeing, and how craft can convey and evoke these benefits through a range of haptic, multi-sensory, interactive ceramic pieces. Working on varying scales, she creates larger sculptures, designed for galleries.
William Mawdsley
Sleep Triad. Nylon 12, SLS 3D printing.
Sleep Symphony is a collection of pieces that visually represent sleep data. Each piece includes the duration of Deep, REM, Light, and Awake sleep as well as sleep efficiency and performance, with the outline derived from the average heart rate over the dataset. This work creates visual and physical representations that bridge a gap.
Manchester School of Art
Lil Sanderson
My People Make Things. Ivory stoneware clay. Coil building, slab building and hand modeling.
Lil is a ceramic artist who has a great love and interest for the revival of heritage craft. She takes her inspiration from her home town of Sunderland and its little known craft history, more specifically its potteries that once produced Sunderland Ware. Her work combines references of historical ceramic pieces and their characteristics and now brings them into the present, but with a twist of her own.
Her mission is to bring attention to lesser known branches of heritage crafts, and to explore the stories and history that can be learnt.
Down to Earth/From the ground Up/Common Ground. Wild cave clay. Investigative materiality research.
Her practice is rooted in the geology of the landscape. The work is an explorative investigation into the materials from the Peak District National Park, using wild clay that she gathers from caves in the landscape and working in relation to other media to better understand clay’s dynamic properties.
Freya Boothroyd
NDS2
Gemma Smale
Handcrafted wheelthrown ceramic pieces that combine traditional glazin g and wood-firing techniques to produce distinctive creations ranging from premium tableware to sculptures.
4 AM
4 AM Product Design is a dynamic collective of four designers founded in 2024. All are graduates of Camberwell College of Arts. The team share a passion for combining creativity and functionality. Specialising in playful yet practical ceramics they transform everyday details into thoughtfully designed household objects.
Helena Lacy Ceramics (above)
Exploring how natural movements shape and transform materials, Helena balances structure with unpredictability, using experimental glazing and printing techniques to mirror nature’s shifting patterns. She sees the kiln as an active collaborator, allowing chance and transformation to guide each piece.
NDS17
Studio Works Caelo Dineen Vanstone
Sharon Hartigan Hartigan Pottery, NDS13
De Montfort University – Design Crafts Clay, Glass, Fine Metal
Amber Jones . Duncan Henderson – Therese Taylor Memorial Award
Liz Blyth
De Montfort University – Design Crafts
Clay, Glass, Fine Metal
Becca Burns
Cardiff Met University
Edith Matthews Katy Purrington
University of Brighton
Marie Brown – The famous Portuguese art, Pastel De Nata, originated at the Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon in the 17 th Century. Her fascination with the story of Mastel De Nata , mixed with a love for baking, history and nuns, inspired her to create this set of serving platters and baking tools. The pieces are decorated and inspired by traditional Portguese tiles, with the name of the birthplace, along with illustrations inspired by Pastel De Natas backstory and recipe.
Chantelle Zaccone (left)
Wrexham University School of Art
Nic Stace
Connor Townley
Ceri Jones
Will Whitmore
British Ceramics Biennial 2025
Artists announced for Fresh and Clay Films
The 25 artists selected for Fresh, one of its flagship exhibitions at the Biennial and a celebration of the new wave of artists working in clay. This year’s cohort, selected from over 380 applicants, represents emerging talent from across the UK and Ireland, and reflects a wide range of perspectives and ceramic practices.
Also launching as part of BCB is Clay Films, a new strand showcasing the work of six international Global Majority artists working in film and clay. Together, Fresh and Clay Films signal BCB’s continued commitment to supporting diverse, innovative voices in contemporary ceramics. Both exhibitions will be presented as a part of the 2025 British Ceramics Biennial, taking place at Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent, from 6 September to 19 October.
Fresh: New voices in contemporary ceramics
Fresh brings critical attention to artists from all over the UK and Ireland at a pivotal moment in their careers. With works ranging from handbuilt figurative forms to architectural structures, this year’s emerging talents are united by their ambition to explore ideas, innovate ceramics practice and connect with the physicality of their material.
Kaytea Budd-Brophy. Untitled. 2025
The 2025 Fresh artists are: Nibras AlSalman, Ekta Bagri, Camille Biddell, David Bothwell, Laura Bragger, Alan Braidford, Katherine Breaks, Tom Buchanan, Kaytea Budd-Brophy, Grace Carter, Alessandra Centorbi, Hanna Fastrich, Catalin Filip, Nadire Gökmen, Yimou Huang, Fan Ji, Miae Kim, Bahareh Khomeiry, Biba Klico, Myrna Mitchell, Elliot Mountain, Kate O'Neill, Kate Sampson, Ceri Shaw and Olga Siruk.
Selected by a panel of advocates for contemporary art and making, the 25 artists will be eligible for Fresh Talent Prizes, which will be awarded to four artists during the Biennial. The Fresh Talent Prizes include a range of residency opportunities in partnership with the University of Staffordshire, Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Center and Grymsdyke Farm.
About British Ceramics Biennial: British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) is an arts organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent with a vision of making change through clay.
BCB develops, sustains and expands innovative ceramics practice and improves lives together with artists and creative communities. This is done by delivering an engaging year-round programme of artist commissions, learning and community projects. These feed into a contemporary ceramics biennial that takes place in Stokeon-Trent.
www.britishcera micsbiennial.com
Top: Alan Braidford. Stack. 2023.
Centre: Camillie Biddell. Basket Bowl. 2025
Bottom: Olga Siruk, Incantation. 2025.
News Item – British Ceramics Biennial
A new body of work by Johnny Vegas in collaboration with sculptor Emma Rodgers has been unveiled at the British Ceramics Biennial, which opened at Spode Works in the heart of Stoke- on-Trent on 6 September.
Just Be There – an avenue of hugs captured in clay - addresses the beauty and transience of physical contact and interaction. Conceived by Vegas and created in collaboration with local people from Stokeon-Trent, the installation records fleeting moments: fixing hugs into clay and making them permanent.
The hugged forms sit alongside a wall of unfired clay pots presented as an invitation to those experiencing anxiety, anger, grief or any other strong emotion to express their feelings through free mark-making. To get to and from the wall, visitors will need to walk through the avenue of hugs, which represent often unspoken emotions of love and contentment.
Johnny Vegas comments: ‘The wall is an invitation to those who don’t get art, to those who are unhappy, to those who feel bitterness. It’s an invitation to tell it to the wall – to let it out on the wall and do something a bit destructive. Once they’ve done that, they can walk back through the avenue without resentment for love and contentment.’
He continues: ‘Let it out, by all means let it out, but never let go of love. Never let go of that hug.’
Although best known for his work as a comedian, Johnny Vegas originally trained in art and ceramics at the University of Middlesex. During the pandemic, Vegas found solace in creativity, and nearly three decades after he graduated, he returned to the studio following a chance encounter with sculptor Emma Rodgers. Johnny Vegas’ work in clay draws on his experiences of living with ADHD, and explores concepts of flight, faith, and fear of failure. He has described his return to art and clay as, ‘an unfinished part of my story’.
Centre of Ceramic Art
Not a Pot:
A new ceramic exhibition at York Art Gallery showcasing the best sculptural and conceptual pottery.
The internationally renowned Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at York Art Gallery has undergone a major redisplay of its ceramics collection.
Titled Not a Pot, the new exhibition showcases the wide range of sculptural pottery in York Art Gallery’s collection. Marking the passing of one of the UK’s most influential potters, Gordon Baldwin (1932–2025), earlier this year, the new displays celebrate his achievements in moving pottery away from its more functional concerns, onto a more sculptural platform.
Using Baldwin’s interests as a guide, visitors will see his impact on other artists through his work and his activity as a teacher, as they explore themes such as Surrealism, landscape, function and the human figure.
An astonishing array of objects feature in the new display presenting a wide range of techniques and materials, and the extraordinary ability of artists to transform simple material with great skill into works that surprise, amuse and move.
Not a Pot challenges the conventions of functional and traditional ceramics, with experimental pieces which push the
Gordon Baldwin. A Vessel in the form of a voice.
boundaries, such as work by the renowned ceramicist Ewen Henderson whose bold making method of mixing clays and firing them to extreme temperatures often had explosive results.
Whilst experimental artist Gillian Lowndes, created a unique style of bricolage pieces out of clay and found materials that defy categorisation. Richard Slee takes a conceptual route in his work ’Essence of Slee’, filling a saltshaker with particles of clay representing his creativity.
Star works from the collection include Bernard Leach’s masterpiece the ‘Leaping Salmon’ vase and William Staite Murray’s monumental ‘Kwan Yin’ jar. Both vessels were given to the gallery by the Dean of York, Eric Milner-White, in 1959 as part of his internationally significant collection of early 20th century pioneering studio pottery.
The versatility of clay as a material is shown by artists who have exploited its plasticity to create complex shapes and forms, such as York based artists Ruth King and Ben Arnup.
Alongside contemporary works are examples of historical ceramics which have been inspirational to modern artists. York is home to two of only 30 surviving pots by the 17th century Staffordshire potter Thomas Toft Toft’s exuberant decoration was admired by Pablo Picasso whose work features in the displays and his ‘Plate: Visages No.192’ reveals a similar child-like joy in working in clay. Other historical works feature in the exhibition include a 17th century slipware owl, an unusual 19th century vase from Christopher Dresser’s Linthorpe Pottery and Chinese tomb figures from the Tang period that reveal the long history of creativity and experimentation by potters.
Inspiration, collaboration and the exploration of materials is fostered in art schools such as Camberwell School of Art, one of London’s oldest art schools, and these themes are highlighted within Not a Pot Sara Radstone was one of the school’s many important pupils, taught by Lowndes and Henderson, amongst others. Radstone’s work ‘Upright Form’, depicting exploratory tactile handwork, is a monumental freestanding piece focusing on memory and place and is shown alongside work by other artists who have a connection to Camberwell.
One section focuses on work by important German emigre artist Hans Coper, who came to the UK during the second world war fleeing Nazi persecution. Included in the exhibition is the pottery wheel he built and used to make many of the works by him on display.
His use of the pottery wheel as a tool to create simple shapes which he then transformed into complex sculptural vessels, inspired generations of artists, such as Gordon Baldwin, to explore more experimental ways of hand-building with clay. The exhibition encourages a deep dive into the form, colour, shape, and textures used by a wide variety of artists working in clay, looking at their techniques, inspirations and use of material across recognisable domestic forms to abstract and monumental pieces.
Whilst the majority of the exhibits are made from clay, some of the artists featured have combined clay with other materials or discarded it altogether to create work out of wood or metal. Works on display by Bryan Illsley include painting, wooden wall sculpture and his 'Climate Warning Helmet’, a piece of protective headgear created from found pieces of metal.
Dr Helen Walsh, Curator of Ceramics at York Art Gallery said: "York Art Gallery’s extensive collection of ceramics encompasses such a broad range of styles, uses and materials, many of which differ from traditional views or concepts of ceramic art. Not a Pot provides a space for these more unusual pieces to be seen and interpreted in a variety of ways. After the recent passing of Gordon Baldwin, this display draws attention to his prominence in the development and teaching of British Studio ceramics and celebrates his talent as a potter.”
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Made in The Middle
Contemporary Craft from the Midlands. A touring exhibition from Craftspace with Leicester Gallery.
Touring dates: 27 September to 22 November. Nuneaton Museum and Art gallery, Riversley Park, Coton Road, Nuneaton CV11 5TU.
14 February to 12 April. MAC, Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH
There will be an online version of the exhibition to the website –https://craftspace.co.uk/mitm/The catalogue costs £10 and is available from the venues or from the website. Smaller items are also available. https://craftspace.co.uk/productcategory/made-in-the-middle/
For some time now I have been very conscious that most of the interna tional exhibitions have been inside of London. This is not to demean the work of CoCA, The British Ceramics B iennial, and The Potfest shows, But what has happened to the Metropolitan towns and their galleries? I grew up in Manchester and can remember explosive exhibitions at the City Art Gallery and the Whitworth Gallery with it’s part within the University.
So, it was with delight that I was sent a copy of ‘Made in the Middle ’. It is both a touring exhibition and a very impressive catalogue. As the name implies it looks at the work being done now by a range of craft makers.
The Ballard of Backwards and Forwards Michaela McMilian. Photo: Hayley Salter
Made in The Middle
If you ever wanted to know what happens to all the talent students after leaving Art College, well this is an example.
In the forward to the catalogue Andrew Tanner, who is Head of Design for Habitat, observes –“Made in the Middle remains an important platform for highlighting the creative talent of the Midlands. Craftspace continues to illuminate the central region of the UK and celebrate the craftsmanship across various disciplines”.
This is the ninth show in a series which originally started back in 1988 and has since evolved. Those taking part range from 22 years to 84. An ‘open call’ for exhibitors produced some 150 entries, from which 31 makers were chosen.
This show I from Craftspace with Leicester Gallery. At the start of the catalogue Craftspace asked the artists about their relationship with th e Midlands, which had responses outlining their commitment to the local environment and it’s history.
The show is divided into the following areas:
Materials
Techniques
Stories
Shaping the Landscape: Making and Movement
This show has to be a brave move to capture the modern essence of what is being produced in the area today. This in itself leaves me wanting much more. When does art become craft, and what is happening to the traditional areas of craftwork which is not shown here. Were they excluded from the selection process or have they now disappeared?
Light, Sound, Movement, 2024. Lucy Baxendale. Porcelain with electronic components inside.
Science NewsV: Physical Treatment of Mental Illness, 2024. Jennifer Collier. Photo: Rachel Butlin
Emily Gibbard – Wild Within
Wild Within is an exhibition bringing together the work of five female abstract artists from Bristol. Four painters and one ceramicist. They are united by an expressive approach; unbound and wild, they each create work based on what they feel. The work empowers their femininity and honours their connection to nature, from vivid colour and rich texture to playful forms and raw emotion.
Centrespace Gallery Bristol
Friday 31 October - Wednesday 5
November 2025, 10am - 6pm
Preview: 30 October, 6:30pm - 9pm
Emily Gibbard – ceramics
Emily's work transforms vessels thrown on the wheel into biomorphic sculptural forms that explore body perception, identity and sexuality. While rooted in the traditions of the pottery craft, she plays and experiments with thrown forms to create abstract body representation. Her inspiration comes from work in female empowerment, studies into prehistoric sculpture and her personal journey of body discovery.
She is interested in stretching the possibilities of clay as a material and the freedom and energy in altering and building with the traditionally symmetrical forms of her craft. Working intuitively is an important part of her practice.
Her ceramics skills came from potteries across the South West, also at Maze Studios CIC ceramics development programme, and with her mentor Roger Owen.
In 2021, Emily was awarded Arts Council funding to focus on developing larger scale sculptural work. Inspiration comes from potters such as Betty Woodman and Sandy Brown as well as sculptors and abstract expressionists. She has exhibited at COLLECT Art Fair, London plus Ceramic Art London and C14 Paris.
Emily is founder and director of Windmill Clay studio in south Bristol; an artist-led ceramics studio providing residencies, mentoring and classes. She works and teaches pottery classes from her Bristol studio.
Emily Gibbard – Wild Within
Only Clay
The 5th Year. Kelham Island
Museum Sheffield
Saturday 4, 10am to 5pm and Sunday 5, 10am to 4.30pm
