Contemporary British Ceramics: Beneath the Surface

by Ashley Thorpe

Overview

Ceramics is one of the most vibrant and engaging fields of contemporary British art. This lavishly illustrated book reviews the work of twenty-two artists and celebrates their contribution to its rich landscape. Written from a collector’s point of view, it explores what contemporary ceramic objects can mean, what emotions they evoke and how artists draw upon different facets of the art and crafts worlds in their work. A vital visual and critical resource, Contemporary British Ceramics showcases British ceramics as a compelling interdisciplinary practice, attuned to the contemporary world. Featuring more than 280 images, it encourages readers to look beneath the surface, to discover the vibrant contribution that British ceramics makes to the broad field of contemporary art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785008887
Publisher:	Crowood Press, The
Publication date:	10/08/2021
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	9.02(w) x 11.02(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Ashley Thorpe is a collector of ceramics, writer, playwright, performer and academic. Having seriously collected contemporary British studio ceramics for over fifteen years, he has extensive knowledge of the field. In 2019, the prestigious international journal Ceramics: Art + Perception awarded him their inaugural writing prize for an essay on the work of Tessa Eastman. He currently teaches Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he gained his PhD.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Collector's Eye 7

1 Richard Slee: Frames of Reference 15

2 Alison Britton: In Between 27

3 Jennifer Lee: Drawn Together 39

4 Carol McNicoll: Montage Notations, Bricolage Citations 46

5 Sara Radstone: By Accident and Design 56

6 Pam Su: Directly Indirect 69

7 Benjamin Pearey: Pages from a Diary 74

8 Aneta Regel: Ceramic Sculptor 81

9 Nathan Mullis: Between Worlds 88

10 Mella Shaw: Prayers for the Future 95

11 Tessa Eastman: Bridging the Divide 103

12 Annie Turner: Deep Structures 111

13 Henry Pim: Structures of Feeling 117

14 Martin Smith: Un/Divided Lines 123

15 Aphra O'Connor: Planes, Frames and Spatial Games 132

16 Patricia Volk: Compositions in Sympathy 140

17 Ken Eastman: Phenomena 147

18 Nao Matsunaga: Placed Spaces 155

19 Sam Lucas: Unexplained MsStories 164

20 Elena Gileva: Context Dependents 172

21 Connor Coulston: Portraits of Daily Life 178

22 Neil Brownsword: Performance Process 183

Afterword: Beneath the Surface 190

Artist Biographies 192

Notes 200

Bibliography 203

Acknowledgements 205

Index 206