Richard Batterham (1936-2021) was dedicated to living a self-sufficient life with his family in Durweston, Dorset, tending to his garden and making pots every day. He referred to his lifestyle as a ‘quietness of living’. Batterham undertook every stage of the process of making pottery himself, from processing raw clay to firing his huge three-chamber oil-fired climbing kiln. He made… Read More
Three Welsh ceramicists inspired by the forces of nature. Beverley Bell Hughes Carine Van Gestel Kim Colebrook 14th January - 26th March 2023. As a young girl, Beverley Bell Hughes enjoyed making pinch pots, but this was discouraged during her training at Harrow in the 1960s: she was expected to make thrown, functional ware in the tradition of Bernard Leach… Read More
This exhibition is selection of the gifts, bequests and purchases for the Ceramic Collection to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Aberystwyth University. The Ceramic Collection is of national importance and stands shoulder to shoulder with other collections of studio ceramics at the V&A and the Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery. It forms part of… Read More
Paul Scott: New American Scenery 09th July -25th September 2022 Paul Scott is well known for his provocative, politically conscious work. He uses familiar transfer-printed tableware designs like the Willow Pattern to comment on our life and times. This exhibition features ceramics inspired by the so-called ‘American transfer-ware’ that was made in 19th century Staffordshire and decorated with imagery… Read More
Cardiff based artist Zoe Preece has created this series of ordinary domestic objects - intricately carved by hand from porcelain or turned from plaster on a lathe (a machine that spins at speed from which plaster forms can be carved). These fragile and beautifully crafted objects attempt to engage with the intangible, unsettling and tender aspects of domestic life.… Read More
“When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair… It is usually free from the dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman.” Sol LeWitt, ‘Paragraphs on Conceptual Art’, Artforum Vol.5, no. 10, Summer 1967, pp. 79-83 Since the… Read More
Ceramics Gallery Aberystwyth Arts Centre 16/10/2021-08/01/2022 flux & poise is an exhibition of new work stemming from my Material Matters project, funded by Arts Council of Wales. The body of work exhibited reveals key developments in my practice since July 2019 when resident at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, where I immersed myself in the diverse West Wales landscape. The project… Read More
Mehefin 21 June– Medi 26 September, 2021 In 2019 the School of Art was invited to participate in a sculpture project, organised by the charity Art UK, to digitise and make accessible online 170,000 sculptures from public collections. The School of Art was asked to put forward a list of sculptures from the collections for consideration following the Art UK… Read More
The formation of the Ceramic Collection at Aberystwyth University coincided with the development of the British studio pottery movement between the two World Wars. In the Western canon of art at that time, African ceramics were still largely considered to be ethnographical objects in the context of museum collections. African sculpture and masks, however, were an important influence on Modernist… Read More
CERAMICS IN LOCKDOWN This is an online exhibition using pots in the Ceramic Collection to illustrate some of the experiences of lockdown. You are welcome to suggest a work from the collection to include in this exhibition, so explore the collection and let us know. If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of lockdown, please visit… Read More
