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Jason Braham: Ceramic Portal Series
Studio 6
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Jason Braham: Cyfres Porthol Serameg
Stiwdio 6
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23 March – 30 June 2024
I first made pots in 1972, having just been appointed to teach ceramics alongside sculpture. A few weeks with West Marshall in Norfolk gave me enough of a start to be just one step ahead of the students that first term. Soon, though, we were building kilns in the school grounds, digging our own clay, burning our own ash, and I was gaining confidence in my own pottery, inspired by my parents’ collection of country ware from the West Country and France. A near neighbour, in our Dorset days, was a young Richard Batterham, and the pots my parents brought from him then certainly told me the sort of pots I wanted to make.
In 1982 I attended Mick Casson’s Wobage Summer Course. Mick was an inspirational teacher, and my work took a jump forward.
That jump coincided, though, with my appointment to run an art department, in which I would not be teaching ceramics, so pottery was pretty well confined to the school holidays. We bought a farm cottage with a two-storey barn in Herefordshire, built a catenary salt kiln and I made just enough pots each year to supply a couple of galleries and have an exhibition somewhere.
In 2007 I stopped teaching and began working as a full-time potter in a new studio in Radnorshire. I’ve been doing that ever since. With a big pole barn as a kiln shed, I’ve built two kilns, one for salt (which is about to be rebuilt) and one for other stoneware – principally ash glazed. Both were built with wood-firing in mind, but (despite their origins in Daniel Rhodes’ Kilns) neither has proved able to get to the highest temperatures without the help of two trusty Swirlamiser oil burners. I gather I’m not the only wood-firer who uses this aid.
My inspiration still comes from European country ware and from potters in the Leach and Cardew traditions. The core of my work is still pots for food and drink, kitchen and table.
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23 Mawrth – 30 Mehefin 2024
Dechreuais greu potiau ym 1972 wedi i mi gael fy mhenodi i ddysgu cerameg ochr yn ochr â cherflunwaith. Y tymor cyntaf hwnnw rhoddodd ychydig wythnosau gyda West Marshall yn Norfolk ddigon o ddechreuad i mi fod un cam ar y blaen i’r myfyrwyr. Yn fuan, fodd bynnag, roedden ni’n adeiladu odynau ar dir yr ysgol, yn cloddio ein clai ein hunain a llosgi ein lludw. Wedi fy ysbrydoli gan gasgliad fy rhieni o lestri cyffredin De-orllewin Lloegr a Ffrainc roeddwn yn ennill hyder yn fy nghrochenwaith fy hun. Yn ystod ein dyddiau yn Dorset roedd y Richard Batterham ifanc yn gymydog agos ac roedd y potiau brynodd fy rhieni ganddo bryd hynny yn sicr yn llywio’r fath o botiau roeddwn i am eu creu.
Ym 1982 mynychais gwrs haf Mick Casson yn Wobage. Roedd Mick yn athro ysbrydoledig a chymerodd fy ngwaith naid ymlaen.
Fodd bynnag, cyd-darodd y naid honno gyda fy mhenodiad i redeg adran gelf lle na fyddwn i’n dysgu cerameg felly cafodd grochenwaith ei gyfyngu i’r gwyliau ysgol. Prynom ni fwthyn fferm gydag ysgubor ddeulawr yn Swydd Henffordd, adeiladu odyn halen fwa cadwynog a chreais ddigon o botiau bob blwyddyn i gyflenwi ambell i oriel a chynnal arddangosfa yn rhywle.
Yn 2007 rhoddais orau i ddysgu a dechrau gweithio fel crochenydd llawn amser mewn stiwdio newydd yn Sir Faesyfed. Dyna rwyf wedi’i wneud ers hynny. Gydag ysgubor bolion fawr yn sied odyn adeiladais ddwy odyn, un ar gyfer halen (sydd ar fin cael ei hail-adeiladu) ac un arall ar gyfer crochenwaith caled – gwydredd lludw’n bennaf. Cafodd y ddwy eu hadeiladu gyda’r amcan o danio â choed, ond (er gwaethaf eu tarddiad yn Kilns Daniel Rhodes) nid yw’r naill na’r llall wedi llwyddo i gyrraedd y tymereddau uchaf heb help dau losgwr olew Swirlamiser dibynadwy. Rwy’n cymryd nad fi yw’r unig losgwr coed sy’n cael y cymorth hwn.
Mae fy ysbrydoliaeth yn parhau i ddod o lestri cyffredin Ewropeaidd a chrochenwyr yn nhraddodiad Leach a Cardew. Mae potiau ar gyfer bwyd a diod, y bwrdd a’r gegin yn dal yn greiddiol i fy ngwaith.
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Related Publications
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Cyhoeddiadau Cysylltiedig
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“Mick Casson possessed the greatest gift: he inspired other people with confidence in themselves. He understood first hand the exigencies of making a living as a potter so his advice was always down-to-earth and realistic – and often punctuated by a wicked wit! He once told me that the pots we make express what we are or what we would like to be. Mick’s pots are intelligent and generous and life affirming.” Jane Hamlyn. Essays by Emmanuel Cooper and Amanda Fielding.
120 pages, Softback
Full colour, 298x235mm
ISBN 978-1-905865-22-2
Language: English
Publication date: May 2010
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“Yr oedd Mick casson yn berchen un o’r doniau pennaf:llwyddodd I greu hyder mewn pobl. Yr oedd yn gwybod drwy brofiad beth yw’r holl ofynion sydd eu hangen er mwyn gwneud bywoliaeth fel crochenydd ac felly yr oedd ei gyngor bob amser yn ymarferol a realistig ac yn aml iawn yn llawn ffraethineb direidus! Dywedodd wrthyf un tro bod y llestri a wnawn yn bradychu beth ydym neu beth yr hoffem fod. Y mae llestri Mick yn ddeallusac yn hael ac yn ddatganiad o fywyd.” Jane Hamlyn. Traethodau gan Emmanuel Cooper a Amanda Fielding.
120 tudalen, Clawr meddal
Lliw llawn, 298x235mm
ISBN 978-1-905865-22-2
Iaith: Saesneg
Dyddiad cyhoeddi: Mai 2010
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A striking 32 page publication accompanies this exhibition. Produced in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum Simon Carroll, Expressionist Potter captures the extraordinary vigour and energy of this celebrated artist.
32 pages, Softback
Full colour, 220x290mm
ISBN: 978-1-905865-69-7
Language: English
Publication date: February 2015
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Mae’r cyhoeddiad trawiadol o 32 o dudalennau’n cyd-fynd â’r arddangosfa hon. Wedi’i gynhyrchu mewn cydweithrediad ag Amgueddfa Victoria and Albert, mae Simon Carroll, Crochenydd Mynegiadol yn cipio grym ac egni’r artist enwog yma.
32 tudalen, Clawr caled
Lliw llawn, 220x290mm
ISBN: 978-1-905865-69-7
Iaith: Saesneg
Dyddiad cyhoeddi: Chwefror 2015
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‘Walter Keeler makes ambitious, intelligent functional pots. These qualities stem from his passion for history, for craft and for stories told through everyday things. As a child he unearthed broken pots on the banks of the Thames and was fascinated to learn how they were made and used.
As a student and teacher during the early sixties, he found himself at the heart of the emerging and vibrant studio pottery movement. Today, with over forty years of making and teaching to his name, he continues to delight us with his distinctive approach to salt and earthenware glazes, which clothe the pots in tactile and tempting colours and textures.
His work can be found in museum collections around the world, as well as our kitchens and dining rooms. For many, Walter Keeler’s pots represent the very best in contemporary studio pottery, combining the skills of a craftsperson with an individual voice’. Julia Pitts. Essays by Emmanuel Cooper and Amanda Fielding.
108 pages, Hard & soft backs
Full-colour, 240x297mm
ISBN 1-900941-71-6
Language: English
Publication date: December 2014
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‘Mae Walter Keeler yn gwneud potiau defnyddiol, uchelgeisiol a synhwyrol. Dyma ansoddau sy’n tarddu o’i angerdd tuag at hanes, am grefft ac am storïau’n cael eu hadrodd drwy bethau bob dydd. Fel plentyn arferai durio am ddarnau o hen botiau ar lannau’r Tafwys, wrth ei fodd yn dysgu sut oeddynt yn cael eu gwneud a’u defnyddio.
Fel myfyriwr ac athro yn ystod y chwedegau cynnar, cafodd ei hun ynghanol y symudiad crochenwaith stiwdio bywiog oedd yn datblygu. Heddiw, gyda deugain mlynedd a mwy o wneud a dysgu i’w enw, mae’n parhau i’n difyrru gyda’i ymdriniaeth nodedig o wydreddau halen a phriddwaith, yn gorchuddio’r potiau mewn lliwiau a gweuad dengar a chyffyrddadwy.
Gellir canfod ei waith mewn casgliadau amgueddfaol dros y byd, yn ogystal â’n ceginau a’n stafelloedd byw ni. I lawer mae potiau Walter Keeler yn cynrychioli’r gorau bosib mewn crochenwaith stiwdio cyfoes, gan gyfuno sgiliau crefftwr gyda llais unigol’. Julia Pitts. Traethodau gan Emmanuel Cooper ac Amanda Fielding.
108 tudalen, Clawr caled neu feddal
Lliw llawn, 240x297mm
ISBN 1-900941-71-6
Iaith: Saesneg
Dyddiad cyhoeddi: Rhagfyr 2014
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A striking 32 page publication accompanies this exhibition. Produced in association with Crafts Study Centre, UCA Farnham, Angus Suttie captures the extraordinary vigour and energy of this celebrated artist.
32 pages, Softback
Full colour, 220x290mm
ISBN: 978-1-905865-93-2
Language: English
Publication date: April 2018
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Mae yna gyhoeddiad trawiadol o 32 tudalen sy’n cyd-fynd â’r arddangosfa hon. Wedi’i gynhyrchu ar y cyd â’r Crafts Study Centre, UCA Farnham, mae Angus Suttie yn cipio grym ac egni anghyffredin yr artist enwog hwn.
32 tudalen, Clawr meddal
Lliw llawn, 220x290mm
ISBN: 978-1-905865-93-2
Iaith: Saesneg
Dyddiad cyhoeddi: Ebrill 2018
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