Dora May Billington (1890–1968) was an English teacher of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

, a writer and a

studio potter Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...

. Her own work explored the possibilities of painting on

Life and career

Dora Billington was born into a family of potters in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, specifically Tunstall. From 1905 to 1910 she attended Tunstall School of Art and later Hanley School of Art, becoming a teacher assistant in her final year. She worked as a decorator for Bernard Moore, 1910–1912 and then studied at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It ...

(RCA) 1912–1916 and the Slade School of Art.John Farleigh, ''The Creative Craftsman'', London: G.Bell & Sons, 1950 At the RCA she studied in the design department under W. R. Lethaby and was taught calligraphy by Edward Johnston, embroidery by Grace Christie and pottery by Richard Lunn. Billington remained an amateur embroiderer and an occasional writer on textiles. Lunn died in 1915 at the age of about 75 and Billington was asked to take over his class with

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

(who later ran the Poole Pottery). She taught pottery at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1919 and left the RCA in 1925 when

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

appointed William Staite Murray as pottery instructor. The circumstances of her leaving remain somewhat unclear. By that date Rothenstein had been in place for five years, and although he supported Billington's work he criticised the teaching of pottery and other crafts as "too unexperimental and derivative. No consistent attempt appears to have been made to deal with the interpretation of the contemporary world in design and execution... the research work towards the discovery of new subject matter and new treatment, so noticeable on the Continent, seem to have been wanting." In 1938 she became head of department at the Central School, assisted by Gilbert Harding Green. Her teaching emphasised the importance of hand building as the first stage of working with clay but all students were expected to learn to throw on the wheel. She had an extensive knowledge of glaze technology and the history of ceramics. Among her students were

Quentin Bell Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell (19 August 1910 – 16 December 1996) was an English art historian and author. Early life Bell was born in London, the son of Clive Bell and Vanessa Bell (née Stephen), and the nephew of Virginia Woolf (née Ste ...

, William Newland,

Gordon Baldwin Gordon Baldwin OBE (born 1932 in Lincoln) is an English studio potter. He attended the Lincoln School of Art where he was initially studied painting under Tony Bartl; it was here at Lincoln where he was first introduced to studio potter and ...

Ruth Duckworth Ruth Duckworth (April 10, 1919 – October 18, 2009) was a modernist sculptor who specialized in ceramics, she worked in stoneware, porcelain, and bronze. Her sculptures are mostly untitled. She is best known for ''Clouds over Lake Michig ...

, Alan Caiger-Smith, Margaret Hine, Kenneth Clark, Ann Wynn-Reeves,

Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie Katherine (sometimes known as Katharine) Harriot Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie (7 June 1895 – 1985) was a pioneer in modern English studio pottery, known for her wood-ash glazes. Biography Pleydell-Bouverie was born into an aristocratic family a ...

Stella Rebecca Crofts Stella Rebecca Crofts (9 January 1898 – 1964) was a British artist who had a prolific career creating paintings, sculpture and pottery. Biography Crofts was born in Nottingham and raised at Ilford in Essex. Due to extended periods of ill-hea ...

, Ursula Mommens,

Ray Finch Raymond Finch (born 2 June 1963) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England between 2014 and 2019. The fourth named candidate on the UK Independence Party (UKIP) list for the Sout ...

and Valentinos Charalambous. She retired from her post at the Central in 1955 when Gilbert Harding Green became Head of Department. At the Paris Expo (the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts) in 1925 Billington was awarded Bronze for her stained glass ‘St Joan’. She also exhibited mosaic. The ceramics courses at the RCA and Central School also received awards. In the 1950s Billington gathered around herself at the Central School of Arts and Crafts a team of teachers who represented an alternative to

Bernard Leach Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Biography Early years (Japan) Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...

’s Eastern aesthetic of utilitarian stoneware vessels glazed in muted colours, and the School became associated with brightly decorated

tin-glazed earthenware Tin-glazed pottery is earthenware covered in lead glaze with added tin oxide which is white, shiny and opaque (see tin-glazing for the chemistry); usually this provides a background for brightly painted decoration. It has been important in Is ...

made by her protégées Alan-Caiger Smith, William Newland, Margaret Hine, Ann Wynn-Reeves and Nicholas Vergette. She was President of the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society was formed in London in 1887 to promote the exhibition of decorative arts alongside fine arts. The Society's exhibitions were held annually at the New Gallery (London), New Gallery from 1888 to 1890, and roug ...

from 1949 and was involved with the Crafts Centre of Great Britain in London, which was chaired by her colleague

John Farleigh John Farleigh (16 June 1900 – 30 March 1965), also known as Frederick William Charles Farleigh, was an English wood-engraver, noted for his illustrations of George Bernard Shaw's work ''The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for Go ...

, and she selected the ceramics shown there. She was also involved with the Smithsonian touring Exhibition of British Artist Craftsmen in the 1950s. Her book ''The Art of the Potter'' (1937), was the first to relate contemporary craft practice to its historical context and in ''The Technique of Pottery'' (1962) she gave a comprehensive account of different methods of working. Since the 1980s there has been an increased interest in her influence on twentieth century British

studio pottery Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...

.Jones, Jeffrey, ''In Search of the Picassoettes''
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Selected publications

* ''The Art of the Potter'', Oxford, OUP, 1937 * ''The Technique of Pottery'', London, Batsford, 1962 , revised edition 1972

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billington, Dora 1890 births 1968 deaths English potters Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art People from Tunstall, Staffordshire Women potters 20th-century ceramists British women ceramicists

Life and career

Selected publications

References

Further reading

External links