I recently exhibited at the Art Fair Tokyo at the invitation of Gallery St Ives, Tokyo.

The Art Fair takes place at the impressive Tokyo International Forum building in the centre of Tokyo and features over 140 galleries showing art from all genres and periods making it Japan’s most prestigious art event.

Ceramics has a higher status in Japanese culture and the amount and diversity of ceramic art represented at the Art Fair Tokyo bears testimony to this.

I was obviously honoured to be invited to take part and also to be working with Gallery St Ives which is a highly regarded gallery specialising in British Studio Ceramics in Tokyo.

Koichiro Isaka, Gallery Director, said “When I saw Tony Laverick’s work for the first time a couple of years ago, I was confident that Japanese people would like his pieces. His works were very well received at the Art Fair. I am very pleased and enjoyed working with him”.

I will be taking part in another event in Japan later in 2013. The Hankyu Department Store in Osaka is having an event to introduce British ceramics from 9-15^th October. The event will include an exhibition of work by Bernard Leach alongside a selling exhibition of work by myself and 4 other potters from the UK.

I  also  exhibited at Ceramic Art London and will be shown at Collect this weekend (10-13 May)with Contemporary Ceramics.

www.artfairtokyo.com

www.gallery-st-ives.co.jp

www.tonylaverick.co.uk

Welcome to the show! and new work from Matthew Blakely

This was an excellent show, the quality and variety of work may even have exceeded last years first class show. I show a few images that I took at the show:

Thomas Bohle and Tim Andrews

Margaret Curtis and Eddie Curtis

For me the show was both an opportunity to see new work from makers I had not seen before, to see the very best work from makers i already new and liked as well as seeing how individual work had progressed since i last saw it.

Apart from that it was delightful to renew old friendships and start one or two new ones. I recommend the show to any one who can get to London at this time of year. Over now, but put a marker in your diary for this time next year – and check around the end of the year for details of the 2014 show on www.studiopottery.co.uk

This show at Chelsea Old Town Hall in the Kings Road, Chelsea, London exceeded my expectations. There was much first class and innovative design and art (call it craft if you must!) in evidence and although my primary interest was in enjoying the ceramics, I was also drawn to some superb jewellery (see Gun Thor for example – www.gunthor.com) or Sarah Herriot Design (www.sarahherriot.com). It is invidious to pick out a few examples of great work for there was much more that i could equally have identified!

Turning now to ceramics there was little that i did NOT like. I was glad to see Kirsty Adams making a return after a few years away looking after her young children (she has promised me some new images of her current work), to see the emerging talent of Alex McCarthy, enjoy Alex Allpress’s new work, to meet  Norman Yap and appreciate his excellent work – see how Richard Heeleys work is progressing and examine Sotis Filippides very tempting wall pieces. I enjoyed Stephanie Wrights thrown, but altered sculpture and found a large piece of Ingrid Saag’s work ‘Swing’ something i could really live with. It was full of life and movement and just ‘danced’ for me! I will be surprised if it has not been sold by the time I am writing this short note. A couple of pictures are shown below:

Also new work from a new ceramic artist Brittany Delany:

So, may i suggest that, if in London or within reach of London this weekend, you try and get to this show. I liked it a lot and hope that you might as well!

Stephen Dee, Editor

Ceramics in the City is an excellent ceramics fair and grows from strength to strength each year. This year Clare Crouchman was kind enough to take some pictures for me to share on studiopottery.co.uk – Thank you Clare

“I love the Geffrye Museum as I remember visiting it as a child.  The 50s and 60s room takes me straight back to my childhood.  With its stylish extension, which opened in 1998, it creates the perfect setting for ‘Ceramics in the City’.

Now in its 11th year the firmly established show has grown in popularity and yet remains a warm and intimate show.  Over 50 ceramicists showed their work and there really was something for everyone.  The work is always of a really high standard and the variety of work is astounding.  Each exhibitor has the same size table and I really enjoy the contrast of colours and textures that makes up the show as a whole.”

“It is a friendly show for the visitors as well as the ceramicists and the cosy, relaxed environment allows for everyone to meet the makers and browse or buy the ceramics and have a look at the museum.

If you have never been before it is definitely worth a visit so come along next year!” (I can certainly endorse that – put a note in your diary to check late next september… Stephen Dee, Editor)

John Townsend attended this event at Faenza and was kind enough to give us a flavour of it. I do hope more members (and non-members) will consider it for 2014.

Faenza, Italy, hosted the third Argilla on 31 August to 2 September.

This biennial event in the city famous since the renaissance for it’s majolica ware (’faience’) has developed into a high energy phenomenon combining an international ceramic fair, multiple demonstrations and a whole city celebrating it’s passion for high quality ceramics.

170 ceramists from 15 countries were spread out in the gaily decorated streets of the historic centre which were thronged with many thousands of locals, visitors from other Italian cities and tourists from the rest of the world. There was a special display from this year’s invited country – Finland

Two kilns were built and fired in the main piazza and lectures, demonstrations and social events crowded the busy weekend. An excellent organizing team with many enthusiastic volunteers ensured the success of the event.

The organizers have worked hard since 2005 to create a network of common interest in the ceramic communities of Italy and the rest of Europe and are keen to widen the circle to include the UK.

I enjoyed being part of this major event and hope more British ceramists will be at the next edition in 2014!

John Townsend

1. Happy customer. 2. Outside the International Ceramic Museum. 3. More Happy Customers. 4.In the historic centre. 5. Enthusiastic Volunteer

Art in Clay at Hatfield had to cope with poor weather, Friday wasn’t good and Saturday was worse, and the (pleasant) disruption of the Olympic Torch passing through Hatfield. However it was still a great show – the quality of work was as good, if not better than in previous years and although visitors were down because of the weather, i am told that sales were actually up over the whole show, with some excellent high value single sales taking place.

Sadly this will be the 8th and last year of the Studiopottery.co.uk sponsorship of the Excellence Award and after award winners who included:

Deirdre Burnett, Eddie Curtis, Ian Rylatt, Geoffrey Swindell, Chris Lewis and Barry Guppy and Richard Godfrey

This year the Award was made the David and Margaret Frith and there could not have been more worthy winners. Both have contributed enormously to British studio pottery over many years and their work is of fantastic quality.

We extend our congratulations to them both. – Stephen Dee, Studiopottery.co.uk

This is an exhibition that charts the development of their work over the last four years since their last exhibition at Rufford. Sue will be showing new work exploring the figure in the abstract and a series of wall panels inspired by the geometric symbols and rhythmic designs of the Kuba people of the Congo. Ashraf will be showing  a body of work that represents new directions after his time out to do an MA at the RCA as well as a select group of his original Raku work.

Exhibition opens at 10am Friday 22nd. Ashraf & Sue Hanna will be at the Gallery throughout the opening weekend.

Renowned potter Chris Carter and archaeologist Martin Green share their fascination with the prehistoric past of Cranborne Chase.  Through art and artefact, they reveal a story of the humans that occupied the landscape before history was written.

Out of the Earth explores a dialogue between artist and archaeologist as they respond to the objects excavated from flint-rich soils of Cranborne Chase.  Artefacts from Martin’s own museum, which displays the finds he has discovered over the years, will be on display alongside Chris’s artwork and objects from Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Heritage Museum.  Together, the objects describe and uncover the imprints left by farming, community and ritual activities in the past.

Chris and Martin describe themselves as ‘sons of the soil’, both having been raised on farms in the countrysides of Warwickshire and Dorset.  They met following a BBC4 radio show ‘Open Country’ which featured Down Farm on Cranborne Chase.  Martin had been excavating there since he inherited it in 1979 and Chris’s interest in the Chase landscape soon developed into a passion for exploring it through his art.

The exhibition shows new developments in Chris’s work and is itself a testimony to the continuing influence of prehistoric people on us today as their artistry, communities and ritual activities are re-discovered through archaeology.  Chris describes the way he searches for his pots in the clay as akin to the archaeologist’s search for an object in the earth.  Cranborne Chase has encouraged his art to take new routes which have seen him sculpting from flint and creating 2D collage works.  A deep-seated influence of the landscape and farming is apparent in his work; his pots suggest the sinuous twist of the plough and the symmetry of the stone axe, whilst the surface textures reflect the processes of people and nature on the landscape.

Both pot and artefact have a power and contemplative quality that makes Out of the Earth an exhibition not to be missed.  Here, the passion for the Cranborne landscape and for the people who lived on and moulded it, is deep-seated, inherent and heartfelt.  The stories revealed are told by two people who know the landscape intimately, both inside and out, and can tell those stories with an authority and understanding that cannot be disputed.

At: salisbury Museum, The King’s House, 65, The Close, Salisbury, SP1 2EN

In 2003 following contact with Paul Binns, a blacksmith who makes replica Viking armoury, Kate started researching historic pots. At first she concentrated on the Viking era in the UK but subsequently has widened her interest and knowledge to pots from the 6th to the 16th centuries. Kate’s pots are shipped all over the
world and are used by re-enactors of various periods.

Latterly her expertise has been recognised by museum services in East Anglia where she has run demonstration and activity days and has welcomed commissions to reproduce historical pots for handling or display. Her recent exhibition at Greyfriars Art Space  – ‘A Celebration of Historical Pots’  featured many of the different types of pots she makes. It will opens daily 10am to 4.30pm until 30th October 2011.

Examples of her work is shown below for those who were unable to get to the exhibition.  See her pages on this website if you wish to contact her to talk about buying or displaying her work.

A good show as always, with a vast range of top quality work to view. The studiopottery award (a free stand in next years show) went to Richard Godfrey this year. This is the 7th year this award has been made with previous awards going to: Deirdre Burnett, Eddie and Margaret Curtis, Ian Rylatt, Geoffrey Swindell, Chris Lewis and Barry Guppy. I cannot really highlight particular favourites as there is so much. For me it is always a pleasure to meet and chat with old friends and to meet new ones.  To see how different ceramicists work is developing and to experience the excitement of finding new work by makers i have not seen before. A bonus this year was the Henry Moore exhibition at Hatfield House. (pictures, left to right, top to bottom. Richard Godfrey receiving his award – left Andy McInnes, Art in Clay, right Stephen Dee, Studiopottery.co.uk; Work by Ross Emerson, Richard Godfrey – traditional work, scuptural recent work; Ostinelli and Priest; Helen Rondell )