Maker of the month / Ceramics

Potter Emmanuel Cooper’s first solo show was in 1968 and since then he has continued to regularly exhibit his vessels which are characterised by an interest in marrying relatively classic forms to vibrantly coloured glazes and unusual textures. But he also has other interests: he was a founding editor with Eileen Lewenstein, and since 1996 has edited, the highly respected magazine Ceramic Review, he is Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art and has been awarded an OBE for his services to the arts. However in spite of his writing and teaching activities, Cooper remains at heart a potter, saying, ‘The head, heart and hand literally and metaphorically come together when I'm creating.’

Ceramicist Matthew Chambers makes complex geometric stoneware sculpture and vessels. As his primary interest is the actual process of making rather than producing a functional or figurative form, his work is strictly abstract. He says, ‘I explore shape through construction and my forms are quite precise but have a natural quality. I try and make these two different aspects complement each other.’

Artist Tom Barnett is a bit of an enigma. Part ceramist, part sculptor, part performance artist, he specialises in staging dramatic sculptural, site-specific kiln firing events. ‘I see these firings as celebratory events that are positive agents for change’, he says and, for him, the ceramics that survive the firing are less important than the transitory spectacle or ritual of the firing itself.

Rob Kesseler’s work is difficult to pin down. He is Professor of Ceramic Art and Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design but is very far from being a conventional potter, often working with photography and digital images rather than clay. His work bridges the art-science divide and he calls himself an artist, explaining that ‘I work in the area where craft, art and design overlap’. But the one theme linking Kesseler’s wide-ranging body of work is his overwhelming fascination with plant material and the natural world.

Rob will be speaking at The Making's 'Inspired by Nature - Theatre of Making' seminar at West Dean in June 2007. For more details click here. Visit Rob's website.

Seed images from "Seeds, Time Capsules of Life" by Kesseler & Stuppy, Published by Papadakis Publishers.

Potter Walter Keeler has been working in clay for over forty years and during that time his work has ranged from stoneware and raku to earthenware. His forms are equally various, with an early interest in sculptural pieces gradually being replaced by strictly functional pots and he now says, ‘If the pots could not be used I would not bother making them.’ However his functional pots are rarely straightforward and many have a strong ornamental element with often witty, unexpected details. They bridge the gap between practical domestic pottery and fine-art orientated ceramics – they are beautifully made studio pottery pieces but with highly innovative and contemporary forms.