York Ceramics Gallery
The York Ceramics Gallery offers a range of work by contemporary ceramists along with a selection of products related to CoCA and ceramics; including books and souvenirs. The work we have does change on a regular basis and the list below shows which ceramists we are currently stocking. For more information on our pieces please either visit the gallery directly or contact us at retail@ymt.org.uk.
David Wright
David has been working with clay for over forty years. All his work is hand built, mainly with coils or ropes of clay, using a coarse textural body. He works alone, he likes it this way, preferring the slow method of working; allowing him time and space to develop my own individual style. He fires in a small down draught kiln to around 1300°c for twelve or thirteen hours. Most of the glazes used come from the ashes of different hardwoods.
David has produced an excusive range of limited edition of tea caddies to link in with the Yorkshire Tea Ceremony exhibition. He has produced only thirteen of these caddies. They all feature one of his signature stamps on the interior, glazed in a wood ash glaze and topped with English Oak Lids.
Pollie and Garry Uttley
Pollie and Garry Uttley first visited India in 1995 and returned for their second visit only three months later. They have now made numerous trips to provide the inspiration for their richly decorated wall panels and platters. Tribal textiles continue to be a constant source of inspiration but increasingly many other aspects of India such as architecture, colour and pattern found in everyday objects have been included in their work.
Josie Walter
Josie makes tableware and cooking pots in earthenware clay, which are decorated with slips and coloured glazes. Most of the pots are thrown on a traditional momentum wheel, even though many of the finished shapes are oval or rectangular.
Beverley Sommerville
This collection relies simply on the qualities of the clay and the skill in making, using porcelain & stoneware clays. The pieces are functional with decorative elements; wanting the user to connect and engage with the work, enjoying weight and texture. Inspiration is taken from interpreting the land and cityscapes; whether the strata of material within a hillside or the lines of a building, with its patterns of light and shade. The marked surface creates a coherent visual language across the range.
Susan Halls
Susan’s Folded Things are not any specific animal, but creatures that represent a prototypical mammal; a universal beast. The viewer sees what they wish: dog, pig, sheep, tapir are common interpretations and none are wrong! Placement and size of facial details play a huge role, giving each piece a unique character.” The folded things are folded stoneware clay with high-fired dolomite matt glazes.
Alex Shimwell
Working on the wheel in both porcelain & stoneware, Alex takes there inspiration from the materials and glazes, how they interact and can be utilised to better display their properties upon, of, and within the form. Their goal with each piece is to create something that is both beautiful and calm.
No decoration is used in the form of surface pattern or motif, instead they prefer to experiment with texture, changing materials or firing style, to see how they enhance and communicate as part of a cohesive piece.
Kyra Mihailovic
Travel, everyday sensory experience, organic forms and historical artefacts all inspire Kyra’s ceramics. With a keen interest in photography and textiles, painting and drawing impacting their work, with pieces ranging from decorative and domestic ceramics to finely painted ceramic jewellery. The ‘Reeds’ and ‘Tulips’ pieces are based on simple, clean shapes combining porcelain shapes with contrasting painted elements. All are painted by hand using ceramic underglaze colours before firing in the kiln.
Jane Hamlyn
Everyone needs flowers and vases to put them in…. something for the home that is beautiful and useful. These elegant forms narrow at the top in such a way that flowers ‘arrange themselves’ perfectly naturally! And when not in use they become decorative objects, especially when arranged in groups of several related shapes and sizes. Each vase is made by hand from a wheel-thrown ‘sleeve’ of clay, narrowing towards the top. When the clay is ‘leather-hard’ this sleeve is altered to an oval shape, cut at an angle and joined to a clay base. After bisque-firing each is finely sandpapered & slips are applied containing metal oxides which react in the kiln to give variations of surface colour & texture. Then fired & salt-glazed in a gas-kiln to stoneware temperature.
Richard Bideau
Richard’s interest in pottery started at an early age and was passed on by his mother, the well-known potter Joan Bideau. After graduating with a degree in Engineering from Cambridge he worked for many years as a chemical engineer. His passion for pottery was reignited after reading an article in the New Scientist Magazine on crystalline glazing. Since then he has become a full time potter and has been working with porcelain and crystalline glazes for over 25 years, developing and testing over 10,000 glazing compositions.
Tricia Thom
Tricia’s work takes references from her love of a Japanese aesthetic. Teapots and moon jars speak to her as symbols of community and ritual. Working predominantly in porcelain on the wheel some of the pieces surfaces are punctuated rhythmically inside and out, expressing the fine translucency of the material, others are treated with bold, calligraphic brush strokes and stripes which contrast with the conformity of form.
Paul Young
Ceramics have been a part of Paul’s creative heart and profession for over twenty-five years. During this time he has been drawn ever closer to the traditions of English earthenware, slipware and European folk art. While taking inspiration from all of these, the strongest bond lies with the Staffordshire wares of the eighteenth century. Potters like Ralph Wood, John Astbury and Thomas Whieldon continue to please, excite and amuse me. Appearing both naive and sophisticated in its execution, their work has a charm and honesty combined with the sheer joy of just being alive. His aim is to fulfil a need, a desire and a passion for making. He hopes to convey a joy, narrative and intrigue for the viewer.
Albert Montserrat
Albert throws mainly vases in porcelain on the potter’s wheel with special interest in large format pieces and in the investigation of glazes. He chooses porcelain for its strength, finish, fluidity and whiteness as is is like a white canvas ready to apply the glaze. He throws simple, clear and classic pots with no decorations leaving the glazes which decorate them with the strength and personality. He is very interested in the Oriental Glazes in general but more specifically in the “Oil Spot” type of glazes searching for new finishes and colours.
James Hake
James makes a range of ceramic stoneware, thrown at the potter’s wheel. He also produces slab rolled work including wall hangings and square dishes. He takes inspiration from Oriental ceramics and he has developed a palette of his own glazes. These range from subtle Shinos, to rich, dark Tenmokus and Copper Reds. The glazes are applied quickly by dipping and pouring in different combinations, which fuse together in the heat of the kiln. He is always adapting and experimenting with glaze, searching for different colours and textures to complement ceramic form.
William Plumptre
Having studied ceramic design at Chelsea College of Art, William Plumptre travelled to Japan, there he continued his training in the workshops of three different potters, including one year with the Japanese master, Tatsuzo Shimaoka. The training regime was rigorous and repetitive but he returned to England with greater knowledge and understanding of the Japanese way of producing and firing pottery in a traditional climbing kiln. He throws with robust stoneware clay and makes a variety of press moulded bottles and dishes, with the use of rope and material each piece is then inlaid with different coloured slips. His glazes are made largely of local materials including wood ash and granite, all of his work is reduction fired in the sixty-five cubic foot gas-fired kiln, which he designed himself.
Maggie Zerafa
Maggie Zerafa studied ceramics in both Australia and Japan, and now works in her own studio on the Isle of Skye. The crystalline glaze effects seen in her work are the results of repeated kiln firings at very high temperatures, producing the shimmering surface of this blue Teabowl.
Barbara Wood
Barbara hand builds ceramics in her studio near York. Her functional crystalline-glazed ware is inspired by the Yorkshire landscape, and in her words ’tactile plant or fruit forms, particularly the tangled lushness of an early summer hedgerow’, reproduced in the impressed and stained surface decoration of each piece. The crystalline effect is produced by chemical reactions in the glaze during firing.
She also has a range inspired by winter landscapes. This range includes hand built, burnished and saggar fired pieces which have been covered with a pale blue slip before being bisque fired. They are then wrapped with copper wire, and fired in a saggar, a ceramic container traditionally used to protect domestic ware from the dirty atmosphere of the kiln, with salts and oxides. The forms are small bowls, larger asymmetric curved and angled vessels, and flattened bottles, all of which provide a canvas for the marks of the firing to be imparted into the surface of the clay. During the firing combustible materials such as sawdust and pinecones burn off and reduce the amount of oxygen in the saggar, creating a ‘reducing atmosphere’. This then causes the oxides and salts to volatilise and colour the clay forms. The lines and shapes produced are reminiscent of blue/grey Yorkshire days during the winter months. Many hours are spent on each vessel, burnishing the almost-dry clay with a pebble to produce a sheen which is further enhanced by the subtle colours absorbed in the saggar firing. No glaze is used, but a coating of beeswax after firing and cleaning each piece helps protect the surface. Barbara has experimented with saggar firing for over 15 years, and although she has some control in how the finished pieces will look, the fire has the final word!
Please call 01904 687687 or email retail@ymt.org.uk to enquire