James Campbell was a potter, however he also used charcoal and pastels, played the jazz trumpet and wrote poetry.

Early Years

Campbell was born in 1942 in

Cawdor Cawdor ( gd, Caladair) is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is south-southwest of Nairn and east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire. History The village is the location of ...

, Scotland, second son of John Campbell, 5th Earl Cawdor of Castlemartin and Wilma Mairi Vickers, daughter of

Vincent Cartwright Vickers Vincent Cartwright Vickers (16 January 1879 – 3 November 1939), was an economist, Deputy Lieutenant of the City of London, director of Vickers Limited and London Assurance. Between 1910 and 1919 he was a Governor of the Bank of England, and ...

(1879-1939), a governor of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and a director of Vickers Ltd and author of '' The Google Book''. This may have made a strong impression on James as later he often used birds in his works. James grew up on the family estates in North East Scotland and Stackpole estate in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

, Wales. He attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

where

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 ce ...

taught ceramics and sculpture. From 1959 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 offe ...

ran a pilot scheme that involved accepting some students straight from school. After the entrance procedure, he gained a place and graduated in 1964 with a first class diploma.

Career

Soon he was teaching pot making on a foundation course, the students learning disciplines from ceramics to fashion. Now gainfully employed, he set up his first pottery workshop near

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

and started exhibiting his pots. He used different forms of clay: earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. His drawings were often executed in charcoal and colour pastels. In 1973 along with

Lucie Rie Dame Lucie Rie, (16 March 1902 – 1 April 1995) () was an Austrian-born British studio potter. Life Early years and education Lucie Gomperz was born in Vienna, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary, the youngest child of Benjamin Gomperz, a Jewis ...

Hans Coper Hans Coper (8 April 1920 – 16 June 1981), was an influential German-born British studio potter. His work is often coupled with that of Lucie Rie due to their close association, even though their best known work differs dramatically, with R ...

Janet Leach Janet Darnell Leach (15 March 1918 – 12 September 1997), was an American studio potter working in later life at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall in England. After studying pottery at Black Mountain, North Carolina under Shoji Hamada, ...

and

Ewen Henderson (artist) James Ewen Henderson (3 January 1934 – 6 October 2000) was an English ceramic artist. Born at Cheddleton Hospital in Staffordshire, he was the second son and younger child of David Henderson (c.1900–1953), doctor of medicine, and (Beatr ...

he exhibited at Tim Boon's Amalgam Gallery, Barnes village, opening exhibition entitled 'Five British Potters'. Campbell was the youngest exhibitor. In 2013 Campbell purchased a 16th-century timber-framed house and studio in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, not far from the site of his earlier workshop, and produced hand-built, individual pieces using a Staffordshire red clay.

''The Google Book''

He returned to ''The Google Book'' in 2019 when he collaborated with the researchers of ''The Google Book Project''. Campbell wrote the foreword to the updated and extended version of his grandfather

' original 1913 book ''The Google Book''. He died aged 77 shortly after the book was published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, James British potters Scottish male poets 20th-century Scottish male artists 21st-century Scottish male artists 1943 births 2019 deaths