Having seen Alison Britton's jaggedy pot (Big White Jug) at the V&A recently, I now hear of her book, "Seeing Things", and am looking for a library copy to help decide whether to buy it or not. (The reason for indecision is that my bookshelves are too full!) Here's a little video that takes a quick flip through the book; and with a little fussing I was able to get a screenshot of a page
On the V&A website are two videos about her work - in the one about the making of the pot she says it's a "make do and mend" piece, real patchwork using lots of bits, built in a very casual way to start with (love that approach to clay!). In five other short videos, ceramicists talk about her work.
Alison Britton has taught at the Royal College of Art since 1984 and has had a studio in Stamford Hill (not a million miles from here) since 1986. Her first significant solo exhibition was at the Crafts Council Gallery in 1979.
Some of her work (via google images) -
I very much enjoyed reading this book, Margaret, and dip back into it from time to time. It may be because I have admired Britton's work for many years and remember being enthralled by the Crafts movement through the 70s and onward that I loved reading and re-reading the articles, but her acute eye and words cast new light on my own thinking about work now.
ReplyDeleteBack in those days I was also enamoured of Elizabeth Fritsch's work which I hardly ever hear of these days.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/ceramics-points-of-view-elizabeth-fritschs-optical-pot/