Artists Statement
Kyra Cane works from her Harley Foundation studio on the Welbeck estate in Nottinghamshire.
She was leader of the Harrow Ceramics degree course at the University of Westminster from 2000 to 2009, and has been a lecturer in drawing and ceramics since 1986. She has been an external validator for the Royal College of Art, external examiner for Glasgow School of Art and held the post of Chair of the National Association of Ceramics in Higher Education and is currently external examiner for Limerick Institute of Arts and University for the Creative Arts.
She is a potter, based at the Harley Foundation in Nottinghamshire, a selected member of Contemporary Applied Arts, a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain and now the Chair of the board of trustees for the Craft Pottery Charitable Trust.
Current Work:
Thrown and altered bowls, jugs and vases in stoneware and porcelain are recurrent themes in her work and she makes pots in series being constantly engaged by subtle variations between each form.
Work generally available from:
Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk, UK
Central St. Martins : Ceramic Art London 2019
March 22, 2019 to
March 24, 2019
Pots are thrown on a wheel and the interplay of form and surface are an important part of her work. Layers of oxide stain and glaze are applied until the surface is animated by a series of marks, reflecting her observations of the landscape and producing a silky finish.
1962 - Born, Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
1981 - 1982 - West Nottinghamshire College of Further Education.
1982 - 1985 - Camberwell School of Art, B.A. (Hons.) 1st Class, Ceramics.
1985 - 1986 - Goldsmiths College, Art Teachers Certificate
1996 - Beatrix Born!
1998 - Oliver Born!
Career Background
1986 - 1990 - Harrow College of Higher Education - Part-time lecturer with responsibility for drawing;
1986 - 1990 - Ceramics HND Course
1986 - 1990 - West Nottinghamshire College of Further Education;
1986 - 1990 - Part-time lecturer in Ceramics; Adult Education.
1986 - 1989 - Goldsmiths College; Visiting Lecturer.
1987 - 1988 - Bretton Hall College, West Yorkshire; Part-time Lecturer in Ceramics.
1987 - 1997 - West Nottinghamshire College of Further Education;
1987 - 1997 - Part-time Lecturer, Foundation and GAD/GNVQ Art and Design courses.
1993 - 1994 - Derby University; Part time Ceramics Lecturer , BA Hons Applied Arts.
1990 - 2001 - University of Westminster (Harrow site),Half-time Lecturer, BA(Hons), Ceramics
2001 - 2009 (July) - Course Leader, BA(Hons) Ceramics, University of Westminster (Harrow site)
2006 - External Examiner: Royal College of Art
2007 + - External Examiner: University of Glasgow
Current Positions:
External Examiner for BA Hons Ceramics, Limerick School of Art and Design
External Examiner for BA Hons 3D Desgin, University of the Creative Arts
Chair of the Trustee Board of the Craft Pottery Charitable Trust
Visiting Artist at the Flying High Academy, Bilsthorpe.
Potteries
1986 -1988 - Set Up First Workshop in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.
1988 -1999 - Set Up Second Workshop in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
2000 - present - Moved workshop to the Harley Foundation, Worksop.
Professional Societies
Fellow of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain.
Chair : NACHE ( National Association for Ceramics in Higher Education)
Chair of the Ceramic Contemporaries 4 NACHE Exhibition Committee
Selected member of Contemporary Applied Arts.
1987 - Crafts Council Setting up Grant
1989 - East Midland Arts Grant for Publicity and assistance in attending Chelsea Crafts Fair for the first time.
1993 - East Midland Arts Equipment Grant.
1997 - Major Development Award, East Midland Arts.
2000 - Residency at Rufford Ceramic Centre.
2005 - Arts Council Award
2010 Major Arts Council Award
Essay by John Houston 'Pour when Inclined' 1994
Short Essay by Emmanuel Cooper for the Hart Gallery Show 1995
Essay by Edmund De Waal 'The pleasurable activity of the journey', The ceramics of Kyra Cane. ISBN 1 85919 014 6
Short text by Edmund de Waal for Catalogue 2005
Essay by Emmanuel Cooper ‘Parallel Lines’ - September 2008
1994 Crafts Magazine Nov/Dec . Pages 53 and 54.
1994/95 Studio Pottery Dec/Jan
1996 Article - Neue Keramik (German Publication) May - June Page 150
Article - Ceramic Review Jan/ Feb 2001
2012 MAKING AND DRAWING – published by Bloomsbury
2003 – 2013 Various reviews for Ceramic Review and catalogue prefaces.
Craft and Design Magazine – Article April 2016
1995 - Presentation Piece for Queen Elizabeth on the opening of the Queens Building at University of Westminster.
2005 - Large vessels for P&O Cruise Liner ( ARCADIA)
2013 - Pots for Shangri La Hotel, The Shard, London
2016 - Installation piece for Oceania Cruise Liner
Solo Exhibitions:
2016 Bircham Gallery, Norfolk
2014 ‘A life of Making and Drawing’
2014 Millenium Gallery, Sheffield.
2008 Harley Gallery – Landscape, Drawings and Ceramics.
2002 White Gallery , Brighton
2001 Hart Gallery, London.
1999 Bettles Gallery, Hampshire
1995 Galerie ‘L’ Hamburg, Germany
1995 Hart Gallery, London
1994 “Pour When Inclined” Canvas Gallery, Tower Bridge, London, The Road Mender, Northampton
1993 “Pots and Paintings”, Kirkbride Gallery, Traquair, Scotland
1990 Montpellier Gallery, Cheltenham
1989 “New Work” Sue Williams Gallery, Portobello Road, London
1987 “Pots and Paintings”, Field Gallery, Nottingham
1985 Paintings and Pots, Midland Group, Nottingham
Group Exhibitions:
2016 Ceramic Art London
2016 Bevere Gallery, Worcestershire
2015 National Glass Centre, Sunderland.
2015 Lowe-Holland Gallery, Penryn, Cornwall
2015 Ceramic Art London
2014 Out of Sight – Drawing in the lives of Makers Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2014 Ceramic Art London
2013 ‘White Out’ Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2013 ‘Making and Drawing’, Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire
2013 Collect – Saatchi Gallery, London.
2013 Stroud International Textile Festival
2012 Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2012 Material Matters – Rag factory London E1
2012 Tradition and Innovation: five decades of Harrow Ceramics. Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2010 ‘Lustre’, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham
2009 Ceramic Art London
2007 Firing Thoughts . Manchester
2007 Collect : V&A
2006 Institute of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2006 Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London
2006 Ceramic Art London
2005 Carlin Gallery, Paris.
2005 Art London, Sarah Myerscough
2005 Ceramic Art London
2004 "Graft" Harley Foundation Studio Show, Harley Gallery, Welbeck. Notts.
2004 MACBA Barcelona (Museum of Contemporary Art) Arts Council Show
2004 Totally Teabowls. Oakwood Gallery. Nottinghamshire
2004 "Bloomers" Contemporary Ceramics Gallery. London
2004 Firbob and Peacock. Knutsford. Cheshire
2004 Affordable Art Fair. London ( John Noott Gallery )
2003 John Noott Galleries, Broadway Modern, Gloucestershire.
2003 Wessex Fine Arts and Ceramics, Dorset - Joint show with Chris Keenan
2003 New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
2002 Christmas Show.Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
2002 SOFA Chicago ( White Gallery)
2002 Grange Barn Galleries. Group Show
2001 SOFA Chicago ( White Gallery)
2001 ‘Painterly Pots’ Brewery Arts Centre. Cirencester
2000 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.
1999 Christmas Show. The Gallery Upstairs. Henley in Arden
1998 Summer Show. The Gallery Upstairs, Henley in Arden
1997 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.
1997 Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire, Major Group Show with Ruthanne Tudball and Josie Walters
1995 Studio Ceramics”94”, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
1992 Patchings Art Centre, Nottinghamshire
1992 Fiery Beacon Gallery, Painswick, Gloucestershire
1991 “Decorative Ceramics”, Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire
1991 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London
1990 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London
1989 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London
1989 Terrace Gallery, Worthing
1989 “New Faces” Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1989 “Harrow Connection” Touring Show: Northern Contemporary Arts Centre, Crafts Council, London
1988 Cecilia Colman Gallery
1988 “Shape and Surface” Touring Show; Gainsborough’s House, Suffolk; Peterborough Museum; Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
1987 “Decorative Jugs”, Cecilia Colman Gallery, London
1987 Beverley Art Gallery (Copernican Connection), North Yorkshire
1987 “Contemporary Ceramics”, Christ’s Hospital, West Sussex
1986 Field Gallery, Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire
1986 Booth House Gallery, Holmfirth, Yorkshire
1986 Castle Museum, Nottingham
2003 Ceramic Contemporaries 4
Chair of the NACHE (the National Association of Ceramics in Higher Education) exhibition committee
Co-organised, produced and curated this nationally touring show which provided an overview of contemporary practice selected by a jury of four nationally and internationally renowned artists, critics and curators. (Edmund de Waal, Andrew Lord, Keeley Traae and Moira Vincentelli) which showed at:
Royal College of Art, London; Harley Gallery; Wrexham Art Gallery; Collins Gallery, Glasgow; Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2013 Making and Drawing - Harley Gallery. Welbeck. Nottinghamshire www.harleygallery.co.uk;
This exhibition revealed the secret lives of artists and makers; showing their private drawings alongside the finished works that they inspire, inform or create.
2014 Out of Sight – Drawing in the lives of Makers, Contemporary Applied Arts, London