Ian Sprague spheroidal stoneware vase St Kilda 1-12-2015

Studio pottery is

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 ...

made by professional and amateur

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s 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, ''Ten Thousand Years of Pottery''. British Museum Press, 2000. . Studio pottery includes functional wares such as

tableware Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of o ...

and

cookware Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...

, and non-functional wares such as

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, with vases and bowls covering the middle ground, often being used only for display. Studio potters can be referred to as ceramic artists, ceramists, ceramicists or as an artist who uses clay as a medium. In Britain since the 1980s, there has been a distinct trend away from functional pottery, for example, the work of artist

Grayson Perry Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "pre ...

. Some studio potters now prefer to call themselves ceramic artists,

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

s or simply artists. Studio pottery is represented by potters all over the world and has strong roots in Britain. Art pottery is a related term, used by many potteries from about the 1870s onwards, in Britain and America; it tends to cover larger workshops, where there is a designer supervising the production of skilled workers who may have input into the pieces made. The heyday of British and American art pottery was about 1880 to 1940. Since the second half of the 20th century ceramics has become more highly valued in the art world. There are now several large exhibitions worldwide, including ''Collect and Origin'' (formerly the Chelsea crafts fair) in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, ''International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair'' (SOFA)

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and ''International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair ''(SOFA)

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

which includes ceramics as an art form. Ceramics have realized high prices, reaching several thousands of pounds for some pieces, in auctions houses such as Bonhams and

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

British studio pottery

Pre-1900

Notable studios included Brannam Pottery, Castle Hedingham Ware, Martin Brothers and Sir Edmund Harry Elton.

1900-1960: Development of contemporary British ceramics

Several influences contributed to the emergence of studio pottery in the early 20th century: art pottery (for example the work of the Martin Brothers and William Moorcroft); the Arts and Crafts movement, the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

; a rediscovery of traditional artisan pottery and the excavation of large quantities of Song pottery in China. Leading trends in British studio pottery in the 20th century are represented by

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 ...

, William Staite Murray, Waistel Cooper, Dora Billington,

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 Jewi ...

and Hans Coper. Originally trained as a fine artist,

(1887–1979) established a style of pottery, the

ethical pot The term "ethical pot" was coined by Oliver Watson in his book ''Studio Pottery: Twentieth Century British Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum'' to describe a 20th-century trend in studio pottery that favoured plain, utilitarian ceramics. ...

, strongly influenced by Chinese, Korean, Japanese and medieval English forms. After briefly experimenting with

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a c ...

, he turned to stoneware fired to high temperatures in large oil- or wood-burning kilns. This style dominated British studio pottery in the mid-20th century. Leach's influence was disseminated by his writings, in particular ''A Potter's Book'' and the apprentice system he ran at his pottery in St Ives, Cornwall, through which many notable studio potters passed. ''A Potter's Book'' espoused an anti-industrial, Arts and Crafts ethos, which persists in British studio pottery. Leach taught intermittently at

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

from the 1930s. Other ceramic artists exerted an influence through their positions in art schools. William Staite Murray, who was head of the ceramics department of 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 ...

, treated his pots as works of art, exhibiting them with titles in galleries. Dora Billington (1890–1968) studied at Hanley School of Art, worked in the pottery industry and was latterly head of pottery at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She worked in media that Leach did not, e.g.

tin-glazed Tin-glazing is the process of giving tin-glazed pottery items a ceramic glaze that is white, glossy and opaque, which is normally applied to red or buff earthenware. Tin-glaze is plain lead glaze with a small amount of tin oxide added.Caiger-Smith ...

earthenware, and influenced potters such as William Newland,

James Tower James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Margaret Hine Margaret Hine (1927–1987) was a British studio potter. She was known in the 1950s for her animal figures but also produced painted dishes and ceramic murals.Oliver Watson, ''Studio Pottery'', London: Phaidon Press, 1993 Life She studied at D ...

,Oliver Watson, ''Studio Pottery'', London: Phaidon Press, 1993 Nicholas Vergette and Alan Caiger-Smith. Thrown vase by Lucie Rie (YORYM-2004

(1902–1995) came to London in 1938 as a refugee from Austria. She had studied at the Vienna

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

and has been regarded as essentially a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. Rie experimented and produced new glaze effects. She was a friend of Leach and was greatly impressed by his approach, especially about the "completeness" of a pot.Gowing, Christopher, and Rice, Paul, ''British Studio Ceramics in the 20th Century'', Barrie and Jenkins, 1989, p. 113. The bowls and bottles which she specialised in are finely potted and sometimes brightly coloured. She taught at Camberwell College of Arts from 1960 until 1972. Hans Coper (1920–1981), also a refugee, worked with Rie before moving to a studio in Hertfordshire. His work is non-functional, sculptural and unglazed. He was commissioned to produce large ceramic candlesticks for

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The cur ...

in the early 1960s. He taught at Camberwell College of Arts from 1960 to 1969, where he influenced Ewen Henderson. He taught at the

from 1966 to 1975, where his students included Elizabeth Fritsch,

Alison Britton Alison Claire Britton OBE (born 4 May 1948) is a British ceramic artist, with an international reputation, known for her large sculptural, slab-built vessels. Born in Harrow, Middlesex, the daughter of the educationalist James N. Britton, she ...

Jacqui Poncelet Jacqui Poncelet (born 1947), also known as Jacqueline Poncelet, is a Belgian artist. Poncelet began her art career as a ceramist in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s her practice expanded to include painting, sculpture and public art. Early life ...

, Carol McNicoll, Geoffrey Swindell, Jill Crowley and

Glenys Barton Glenys Barton (born 1944) is a sculptor working mainly in ceramic and bronze. Life Barton was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1944 and now lives in and works in Essex, UK.Edward Lucie-Smith, Adrian Flowers, Robin Gibson 1997 Momentum London p113 She ...

, all of whom produce non-functional work. After the Second World War, studio pottery in Britain was encouraged by two forces: the wartime ban on decorating manufactured pottery and the modernist spirit of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

.Harrod, Tanya, "From A Potter's Book to The Maker's Eye: British Studio Ceramics 1940-1982", in ''The Harrow Connection'', Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, 1989 Studio potters provided consumers with an alternative to plain industrial ceramics. Their simple, functional designs chimed in with the modernist ethos. Cranks restaurant, which opened in 1961, used Winchombe pottery throughout, which Tanya Harrod describes as "handsome, functional with pastoral but up to date air". Cranks represented the look of the period. Elizabeth David's food revolution of the post-war years was associated with a similar kitchen look and added to the demand for hand-made tableware. Harrod notes that several potteries were formed in response to this fifties boom. There was in turn a demand for potters trained in workshop practice and able to throw quickly. As this training was not offered by the art schools of the period, the Harrow Art School studio pottery diploma was created to fill the gap. According to Harrod, "the production potter of the Harrow type had a good innings well into the seventies", by which time the market for this style of pottery was falling away.

1960s-present: Modern British potters

From the 1960s onwards, a new generation of potters, influenced by Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design including Ewen Henderson,

, Elizabeth Fritsch,

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 ...

and Ian Auld began to experiment\abstract ceramic objects, varied surface and glaze effects to critical acclaim. Elizabeth Fritsch has work represented in major collections and museums worldwide. The number of potters increased in the mid-1970s the

Craft Potters Association The Craft Potters Association (CPA) is an association of potters formed in 1958 in London. It has two wholly owned operating companies: Craftsmen Potters Trading Company Ltd and Ceramic Review Publishing Ltd. It owns a shop and gallery, the Con ...

had 147 members and by the mid-1990s it had 306.

British organisations

A representative body for studio pottery in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

is the

, which has a members' showroom in Great Russell Street, London WC1, and publishes a journal, ''Ceramic Review''.

US studio pottery

Pottery had been an integral part of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Charles Fergus Binns Charles Fergus Binns (4 October 1857 in Worcester – 4 December 1934 in Alfred, New York) was an English-born studio potter.Ellen Paul Denker"Binns, Charles Fergus."In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed February 3, 2012; subscription ...

, who was the first director of the New York State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics at

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The Inamori School of Engineeri ...

, was an important influence. Some potters in the United States adopted the approach from emerging studio pottery movements in Britain and Japan. In addition, American folk pottery of the southeastern United States was seen as an American contribution to studio pottery. University programs at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

, under the direction of Arthur Eugene Baggs in 1928 and under

Glen Lukens Glen William Lukens (1887–1967) was an American ceramicist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one o ...

in 1936 at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, began training ceramic students in presenting clay ware as art. Baggs had been intimately involved in the Arts and Crafts movement at

Marblehead Pottery Marblehead may refer to: Places in the United States * Marblehead, Illinois * Marblehead, Massachusetts * Marblehead, Ohio * Marblehead, Wisconsin Other uses * Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is a bi ...

and, during the 1930s, he revived interest in the salt glazing method for studio pottery. European artists coming to the United States contributed to the public appreciation of pottery as art, and included

Marguerite Wildenhain Marguerite Wildenhain, née Marguerite Friedlaender and alternative spelling ''Friedländer'' (October 11, 1896 – February 24, 1985), was an American Bauhaus-trained ceramic artist, educator and author. After immigrating to the United States i ...

Maija Grotell Maija (Majlis) Grotell (August 19, 1899 — December 6, 1973) was an influential Finnish-American ceramic artist and educator. She is often described as the "Mother of American Ceramics." Early life and education Finland Maija Grotell was born ...

Susi Singer Susi Singer (October 26, 1894 – 1955),Austrian Studies. Vol. 14, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, pp.88. also known as Selma Singer-Schinnerl, was an Austrian-American Jewish ceramic artist known for her bright and detailed figurines. Singer ...

and Gertrude and Otto Natzler. Significant studio potters in the United States include

Otto and Vivika Heino Otto Heino (April 20, 1915 – July 16, 2009) and Vivika Heino (June 27, 1910 – September 1, 1995) were artists working in ceramics. They collaborated as a husband-and-wife team for thirty-five years, signing their pots ''Vivika + Otto'', regard ...

Warren MacKenzie Warren MacKenzie (February 16, 1924 – December 31, 2018) was an American craft potter. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois the second oldest of five children including his brothers, Fred and Gordon and sisters, Marge (Peppy) and Marilyn. His h ...

Paul Soldner Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic cr ...

and Beatrice Wood.

US organizations

* American Ceramic Society; mainly focused on scientific research rather than studio pottery. *

National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Founded in 1966, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is an organization in the United States serving the interests of ceramics as an art form and in creative education. Most major American ceramic artists since the 1970s ...

Museum studio pottery collections

;Canada * Gardiner Museum ;United Kingdom * Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in Birmingham, England *

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by ...

at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in Norwich, England *

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is a mothballed museum in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, which is currently closed while a new venue is sought. Collections The Swindon Art Gallery collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H. J. P. ...

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in London, England * York Art Gallery in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

;United States of America *

American Museum of Ceramic Art The American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) is an art museum for ceramic art, located in Pomona, California. Founded in 2003 as a nonprofit organization, the museum exhibits historic and contemporary ceramic artwork from both its permanent collect ...

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyt ...

* Schein–Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art,

, New York * Scripps College, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery The Marer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...

;Australia * National Gallery of Victoria