Inger Rokkjaer

Inger Rokkjaer’s pots have structural and textural modulation. The surfaces achieve depth through their varied densities of crackle, pitting and smokiness. These objects are inherently Danish. Earthenware is a traditional Jutland body still widely employed, and her pots are confidently Scandinavian in their economy. Her methods of digging and drying the clay and removing its impurities are as important as the firing process; all part of a making cycle imprinted in the discipline and spontaneity of her work – certain, generous and spirited.

Raku - New Directions 

Duncan Ross

‘I use only clay and smoke. Everything comes from that.’ ‘My work is thrown and burnished using many layers of a fine terra-sigillata slip with resist and inlay decoration. Colours are achieved by smoke firing, and the decoration is developed from many sources including textiles and geometric motifs. During a career always involved with ceramics I have met and been influenced by such notable figures as Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, and Michael Cardew; and have visited Bernard and Janet Leach at their renowned workshops at St Ives, Cornwall. They have all been inspirations to be assimilated towards a personal ceramic language. But the greatest inspiration has been studying work in museums by the many anonymous ethnic potters who have explored the simplest possibilities of clay and decoration. I began working with sigillata with the desire to use the simplest materials with low firing temperatures and to develop a rich surface with a combination of form and pattern that would be integral to the clay. Starting with a simple black line and dense burnished orange, I gradually experimented with the multi-layers of slip and resist to obtain a surface that has a feeling of depth, allowing the smoke process to play its essential and unpredictable part. From highly complicated patterns using lines to create rhythms around the form this extra dimension has released my linear pattern from its structure, allowing me to ‘float’ shapes on to the surface. I am always searching for development that comes from repetition; allowing the idea to flow from one group of work to the next, adding and omitting to arrive at the ideal and most natural relationship of surface to form. It is the combination of the fundamental and the sophisticated that I find fascinating.’ The pots are placed in sawdust in saggars and have several firings at various temperatures; each firing suggesting the next stage. The firing is a very exciting and often illuminating experience. It is at this stage when the responses of the slips to the smoking and carbonising atmospheres in the kiln will be seen, and from this a wide range of colours will appear; sometimes dark and chestnut oranges and browns, sometimes light yellow, grey and gold. The blacks can lighten to grey and sometimes to a pale blue. Duncan is widely acclaimed as one of the foremost exponents of saggar-fired ceramics. His exquisitely executed pieces hold a quiet yet powerful presence. We are delighted that he has agreed to make a special body of work for this exhibition. To quote Emmanuel Cooper: ‘The rich, intriguing surface effects do not, like glaze, separate the making and the firing. These are pots which work on the boundaries of primitivism yet are highly sophisticated, they please because they defy definition, they are pots on the edge, a satisfying and intriguing blend of technical skill and creative vision.’ Duncan has pieces in many collections world-wide including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum – Cambridge, the Boise University Collection – Idaho, USA the Saint Avit Collection – France and the Munich and Cologne Museums of Applied Arts in Germany. His many prestigious exhibitions include a solo show at Contemporary Ceramics, London and ‘Collect’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2005. Also the Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool and at Galerie Pierre, in Paris. He is a Fellow of the CPA.

Antonia Salmon

Many of Antonia’s pieces have an ancient resonance. Some are statuesque-like standing stones or balancing rocks. Others appear more manmade, alluding to prehistoric hand axes or bone tools. The care taken in the making would seem to echo that of some of the valued artefacts found in ancient graves or on sacred sites. However, she also draws inspiration from twentieth-century art – Eric Gill, Epstein and Hans Coper, amongst others.

Raku - New Directions 

Susanne Silvertant

The visual strength of Susanne’s work lies in her eye for proportion and an unfussy approach to making. Great slabs of textured clay meet each other like tectonic plates, with the junctions of interlocking sections defining the architectural nature of the forms and visually increasing the scale of even quite small pieces. While travelling through Europe, Susanne became fascinated by the architecture of Mediterranean countries. The original function of the old buildings and the weathered appearance and decay of centuries attracted her, providing a rich vein of source material to inform her subsequent work.

Yasuo Terada

Terada is a highly respected potter in Japan, master kiln builder, educator and a great ambassador for Japanese ceramics. He works in the pottery centre of his home town Seto, outside Nagoya. He and his brothers are fourth-generation potters, producing ware mostly in the high-fired Oribe style but Yasuo ventures sometimes into raku ware fired in a traditional style coke-fired kiln. Unusually he digs all his own clay from the hills and woods of the surrounding Japanese countryside. Yasuo considers this to be an important and integral part of his life as a potter.