moving forward the crafts study centre at 50

The Crafts Study Centre was founded The collections of the Crafts Study as a charity on 1 April 1970 as a Centre were relocated to Farnham in research and study collection of the year 2000, enabling them to be modern British craft. Robin Tanner seen and studied in the context of a wrote that it emerged ‘painfully, slowly specialist arts university. The Crafts and with characteristically English Study Centre today plays a unique role altruism and amateurishness… as a as the university museum of modern collection of the best work of the 20th craft in the UK. century artist-craftsman… not just a museum collection, but one that, In order to celebrate 50 years as a augmented by craftsmen’s records, charitable organisation, the current writings and papers, could be handled Trustees and members of the Centre’s and seriously studied and enjoyed’. Acquisition Committee have each That has been the credo of the Crafts selected a group of objects that are Study Centre throughout its history. of particular interest to them and their fields of study in modern craft. The collection was located at first in The exhibition is therefore a personal The Holburne of Menstrie Museum, testimony as well as a sweep over the Bath (now The Holburne Museum of collections. It is a way of looking at the Art). The collections were overseen collections from the perspectives of the by a board of Trustees comprising makers, curators and educationalists distinguished makers, educators who have assembled the archives and and curators. The founder Chair was objects for research and posterity. the teacher Ewart Uncles, and the Objects and archives from across founding Trustees included the potter the range of the museum indicate its Henry Hammond (who taught at the strengths and depths, and tell a history West Surrey College of Art & Design, of the museum through its materials the precursor institution to today’s and the personal records of makers. University for the Creative Arts) and the textile designer Marianne Straub. The As Alison Britton, the Chair of the Centre’s founder Curator was Barley Crafts Study Centre observes, the Roscoe MBE (herself a graduate of the exhibition shows ‘how craft moves WSCAD), setting up the CSC within the forward through its uses of history, Holburne during her Directorship there looking and comparing, in pursuit of (1986 – 1999). a skilful contemporary relevance’. glenn felicity adamson: alyieff:

Trustee: 2008 – 2013 Acquisitions Committee: Chair: 2010 – 2013 2008 – present

The Crafts Study Centre is a memory The criteria for my selection of ceramic bank – a place that preserves British objects for this exhibition was very crafts of the past, so that they may live straightforward. The pieces had to on into the future. resonate with me personally, either through the story they told or the Dr Glenn Adamson is a curator and language used in their ‘making’. I did writer at the intersection of craft, not expect that I would be waylaid by design history and contemporary art, some of the works that unexpectedly and is Senior Scholar at the Yale Center made the final cut, but that is the for British Art, New Haven, USA. joy of spending time looking and interrogating objects and finding out about their history and often their Japanese stoneware bowl with red hidden pasts. It was interesting to and green enamel on white slip, from have my occasional preconceptions Bernard Leach’s source collection, confronted and my eyes opened by 18th century. new discoveries! Unknown P.79.56 Looking at my selection I see that they are linked through their individual ease of expression either in the handling of the clay as in Yasuda’s thrown bowl, sensual in form with its seductive rich celadon glaze, or in the contemporary handling of traditional decorative techniques, close to my own research inquiry, and particularly pertinent to the recent acquisitions of pieces by Simon Carroll, Philip Eglin and Dylan Bowen. In the vase by Bowen the vertical looped slip design is like thick black treacle. Trailed onto a white ground, it makes a strong graphic statement going from top to bottom. A similar looped image appears effortlessly trailed horizontally across Eglin’s press-moulded jug. Continuing the monochromatic theme, Carroll has used slip applied with a coarse brush and, doing away with the conventions of traditional ceramic decorative composition, China, originally made as ‘packaging’ his bold, fluid marks create abstract for selling salted vegetables. The imagery on the surface of his thrown, jar formed part of Leach’s personal altered and slabbed form. Pre-dating collection and was used for his own all of the above in her unorthodox research. Such ash glazed jars were preoccupation with sculptural form, made from low firing stoneware clay, and with a determination to do away coated with white slip and carved with with the notion of pottery as craft, is a confident, fluid line that can only Gillian Lowndes. In my early career as come through repetition of process a maker in the 1980s I saw her piece and familiarity with the subject. I was Hook, and thought it refreshingly new excited by this example as I also have and inspirational and it continues to a number of my own, scavenged from delight me. markets in China, that sit as inspiration in my studio in Jingdezhen. I can Emmanuel Cooper has not only been understand how Leach must have extremely important to my ‘thinking’ enjoyed the immediacy of the drawn and career but was a significant line and the simple effective process figure in the ceramic community and of carving to create an image, such academia. The inclusion of his buckets eloquence I can only strive for in my is an acknowledgment of this. Similarly, own work. Lucy Rie has had a momentous impact on the history of the discipline. Her Felicity Aylieff is a ceramicist and very desirable and sublime black cup Professor of Ceramics & Glass at the and saucer has an ease and grace in its Royal College of Art. design and making. Perhaps personally less desirable, but totally intriguing are the cups and saucers made as Porcelain bowl with a celadon glaze, prototypes for the Leach production, c.1950. of which I was previously unaware. Bernard Leach Made robustly in red clay their appeal P.74.6 and selection is more to do with their ‘homely’ practical quality rather than Earthenware coffee cup and saucer, their aesthetic. But this is not the case 1936. with the Bernard Leach bowl with its Bernard Leach leaping hare deftly carved in its centre. P.74.101.a.i-ii Made after his study of Song dynasty Chinese bowls, he captures the life and Earthenware coffee cup and saucer spirit of the hare in motion with superb with slip decoration, 1933. fluency and elegance. Bernard Leach P.75.45.d and P.75.45.m Hidden from sight on the bottom shelf of the ceramic store I was astonished to find a jar from Hubei in nick barberton:

Earthenware peasant jar, from Acquisitions Committee: Bernard Leach’s source collection, 2004 – present c.1900. Bernard Leach David Pye wrote books about P.79.8 workmanship. Workmanship of risk and the workmanship of certainty. In Porcelain platter with a celadon this double bowl from English walnut glaze, c.2005. I see Pye using his carving machine Takeshi Yasuda to define perfection in the risk of 2005.1 certainty. Yes, one turns it over and see the workmanship of risk, but it does Stoneware cup and saucer with black not disappoint. The wood is sound and iron-bearing stoneware glaze. predictable, the tools are sharp, as is Lucie Rie the intent. A work of art, made from 2005.8 and 2005.28 the eye, the hand and the heart.

Stoneware bowl with a black and Nick Barberton is a woodworker. white pitted volcanic glaze, 2005. Emmanuel Cooper 2005.24 Oval English walnut double-dish with incised decoration, 1978. Thrown and altered stoneware vessel David Pye with slipware decoration, c.2013. F.78.5 Dylan Bowen 2013.10

Single Hook Figure, sliced loofah dipped in grey slip, 1991. Gillian Lowndes 2013.14

Square Vessel Rounded Feet, hand- built ceramic vessel, 2005. Simon Carroll 2015.8

Ceramic jug, Swirl, with trailed slip decoration, 2015. Philip Eglin 2018.1 alison britton:

Trustee: 2006 – present with birds heads and winking eyes, Chair: 2015 – present but it is an intense and compact vessel Acquisitions Committee: with scratched decoration in the white 2010 – present body, salt glaze bringing out tinges of red at the rim and green in the body, The most recent CSC acquisition in beautiful to hold in the hand. my selected group, the Angus Suttie piece, is huge by the usual standards Clive Bowen’s lidded jar is massive of our ceramics collection. Titled simply by contrast, and was one of the first Sculpture, it was made in 1991 and is acquisitions I was directly involved with 1.13 cm in height. Suttie was at the purchasing – choosing it on a trip with centre of what became known as the Simon Olding from an array of work in ‘The New Ceramics’, a postmodern Bowen’s Devon studio. Its specialness flourish in the ceramic world discussed for me is the custard colour of the in Peter Dormer’s book of that title white slip under the earthenware glaze. published in 1986. Suttie was an The strokes that interrupt the wet slip exuberant, prolific, experimental artist surface, in loose but certain decoration, who died in his forties in 1992. His mark the character of his pots. exhibiting career only began a decade earlier – he went to art school late The chunky rectangular wooden block, after trying to be an actor. No other with a turned hemispherical bowl in the clay artist I can recall made such an middle, was made by Jim Partridge in impact with their work in one decade. 1988. Although he now works mainly By the time he died he had been with architectural-scale benches and included in major international shows seating, his early work, after studying and publications, and in seventeen at Makepiece’s wood college at significant museum collections in the Parnham, focussed on developing UK, Japan, Australia and Holland. some new language out of the process of wood turning. Often using wet The oldest, and perhaps smallest, wood, the ensuing movement of the piece in my selection is a tiny six- wood, splitting as it dries, was part of sided stoneware bowl from the the process. He blackens the surface Martin Brothers’ pottery, where they with a blowtorch in order to seal and specialised in salt glazing and were weather it. Blackened planks feature in famous for grotesque and comical bird traditional Japanese rural architecture. jars. They started in 1873 in Fulham and then moved to Southhall. The All my other choices are from the Martin Brothers’ studio is the riposte pioneering modernist period, the to the many who think that Bernard foundation of the CSC collections. Leach’s studio in St Ives, established The square box from Denise Wren is in 1920, was the beginning of studio a powerful and unusual piece, almost pottery in the UK. This bowl does not sinister in its colouring, tinged with link to that great array of tobacco jars Art Nouveau, and unlike the work of her contemporaries. I have also Large earthenware lidded jar with picked a slender brown saucer with sgraffito and painted decoration on a sgraffito drawing, and ten red ceramic honey-coloured slip. buttons, from Lucie Rie, who excelled Clive Bowen, 1990s – 2000s in her capacity to make both big and 2011.15.a-b small works seem exactly right; and a ‘demonstration sheet’ by Edward Rectangular bowl, scorched burr oak. Johnston showing myriad wrong ways Jim Partridge, 1988 of writing the letter ‘a’, with one right 2006.20.122 one: guess which. Porcelain saucer with sgraffito The textiles of Phyllis Barron and decoration. Dorothy Larcher, so significant in our Lucie Rie, c.1955 collection, are shown in one length P.74.25 of their Spine design, bold and monochrome, and a sample page of Hand block-printed organdie length, Hazlitt in a beautiful light blue. And I’ve Spine. chosen six textile print samples from Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Enid Marx, who once worked for them, 1923 – 1940 but also excelled in illustration and T.76.6 graphic design, and documented folk art. Duplicate page from Volume 1 of Phyllis Barron 1890 – 1964 Dorothy As the current Chair of Trustees, I feel Larcher 1884 – 1952: A record of it is a focus of my job to augment our their block-printed textiles compiled splendid modernist hoard by acquiring by Robin Tanner showing the design postmodern and more recent works Hazlitt. with the exacting standards of the Robin Tanner, 1970s earlier objects. 2001.1.c.40

Alison Britton obe is an acclaimed Ceramic sculpture, Tall Form. potter, writer and commentator on Angus Suttie, c.1991 modern and contemporary crafts. 2018.60

Eight-sided earthenware jar with Stoneware bowl with a porcelaineous cover, with pierced, applied and glaze. incised decoration. Martin Brothers, 1903 Denise Wren, 1930 – 1937 P.74.35 P.84.17.a-b 56 a’s made as wrongly as possible, Hand block-printed samples. demonstration sheet written in Enid Marx, 1928 – 1933 Foundational Hand. TS.76.5.a-b, TS.76.12, TS.76.44, Edward Johnston, 1931 TS.76.47.a-c, TS.76.58.a-c, TS.76.76 C.86.108

Selection of glazed earthenware buttons. Lucie Rie, 1945 – 1947 P.95.various

Hand block-printed organdie and linen samples, Ogee. Enid Marx, 1931 TS.76.5.a-b

Hand block-printed cotton sample, Sea. Enid Marx, 1928 TS.76.12

Hand block-printed cotton samples, untitled. Enid Marx, 1928 – 1930 TS.76.44

Hand block-printed silk and cotton samples, Hairpin. Enid Marx, 1933 TS.76.47.a-c

Hand block-printed cotton samples, Ashcroft. Enid Marx, 1932 TS.76.58.a-c

Hand block-printed sample, untitled. Enid Marx TS.76.76 pat carter:

Trustee: 1997 – 2019 Alan Peters (Trustee 1988–1999) was one of the most skilled furniture makers In the process of retiring from the of his day, He was apprenticed for Trustee body of the Crafts Study seven years to Edward Barnsley and Centre I am looking back over 25 years became a main exponent of the 1970s (has it really been so long?) and at the furniture craft revival. He enjoyed growth of the organisation, the joy that exploring the unpredictable and it has brought me personally, and the beautiful figure of wood as a part of people who have contributed so much the design, but it was never his desire to the enduring integrity and values to make art but beautiful pieces of that the CSC represents. I have used furniture. Finding time to demonstrate this opportunity to pay tribute to just and encourage students was of a handful of the makers, mainly but paramount importance to him and his not exclusively trustees whose works book Cabinetmaking: The Professional are represented in the collection and Approach became one of the main who have given so generously their reference books in the field. The piece professional expertise, their energy and in the exhibition is his ‘Romanian their commitment to make the CSC inspired chest’ with a wooden hinge what it is today. and made from a single oak felled in 1998 whose wood was distributed to In the early days of my trusteeship 70 craftspeople and designers under the CSC shared museum space with the ‘One Tree’ project. the Holburne Museum in Bath, in an imposing Georgian mansion at Mick Casson (Trustee 1993 – 2000) the end of a fine street of handsome was a dedicated educator and a terraces. Here the CSC had been born. central figure in nurturing and steering A founder trustee and benefactor ceramics during its renaissance in was Henry Hammond (Trustee 1970 the late 1950s to the 1970s. He was – 1988), potter and educationist and inspiring, warm and generous in his Head of Department at West Surrey teaching. Students of his famous College of Art and Design, Farnham. evening classes in pottery at Harrow The link with Farnham was made very School of Art were enthralled by his early on! He taught at Farnham from passion and generosity and through 1946 until his retirement in 1980, these classes began a movement influencing thousands of students. His which led to the foundation of the extensive archive in the CSC illustrates Crafts Potters Association. Mick was his life and work, a graceful synthesis an early chair of the council and leader of East and West. The making of pots of so many of its high-profile events. often came secondary to his full-time He was best known for his salt glazed teaching role, but his best work shows stoneware jugs with decoration of his exceptional draughtsmanship and different slips which always appeared painterly skills. as an integral part of the work. Peter Collingwood abandoned Lastly we must acknowledge the medicine for weaving in 1950, foresight of Robin Tanner who in 1970 concentrating on rugs and wall realised how vital it was that these hangings. His work developed works and the archives of their makers inventively through his constant should be valued and preserved. I wish adaptations of handlooms, and the Crafts Study Centre a bright future. architects and designers admiring the logic of the work commissioned pieces Pat Carter is a collector and writer with for offices and conference centres. The a particular interest in contemporary macrogauze shown in this exhibition ceramics. was one of a pair commissioned for the British Embassy building in Brussels. Page from the manuscript diary The On the transfer of the Embassy the Book of Hours for the Vernal Equinox, work was generously offered to the Japanese ink and gouache on paper, Crafts Study Centre. The CSC has 2004. a substantial collection of Peter Ewan Clayton Collingwood’s work and his extensive 2004.29 ethnographic collection of woven material from around the world. Porcelain buckets with a celadon glaze, 2002. Edmund de Waal was Chair of trustees Edmund de Waal for six years (2005 – 2010). Edmund 2008.25.1-2 gave most generously of his time and expertise and influence when he was Woven linen 3D macrogauze, made exceptionally busy both potting and for the British Embassy in Brussells, writing. His large-scale installations 1990s. of porcelain vessels will be familiar to Peter Collingwood many. His generosity in donating work 2009.27.1 to the Crafts Study Centre is warmly recognised in this exhibition. Oak chest inspired by a Romanian design, c.1999. In the age of the personal computer Alan Peters the art of calligraphy might have been 2011.11 thought to be dead, but instead it has emerged as a tool for calligraphy. Stoneware vase with brushed Software tools have fed into Ewan decoration, XXX. Clayton’s work (Trustee 2008 – 2018) Henry Hammond and he argues that the PC has Kindly loaned by Pat Carter encouraged hand letterers to rethink the purpose of their work. I wish to Large stoneware jug with a salt glaze acknowledge Ewan’s considerable and sgraffito decoration, 1980s. contribution to CSC trustee debates Michael Casson and thank him for his dedication. 2005.30 dierdre figueiredo:

Trustee: 2008 – present Deirdre Figueiredo mbe is the Director of Craftspace. I have mobilised the feminist in myself and selected objects by women which I feel creates a sense of solidarity. I Notebook containing notes, am curious and wonder about the quotations, transcripts of poems, gendered nature of their cultural letters and ideas for copybooks, expression, aesthetic, choice of subject c.1950s. matter and sexuality. How does this Irene Wellington play out in their output – is it explicit, C.84.130 intentional, subversive or quietly radical? In this grouping we may Stoneware bowl with a grass ash also consider the position of women glaze, c.1939. creatives in the eras in which each Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie of these women lived and worked.. P.74.135 Often living and working together (as in the case of Enid Marx and Margaret Small stoneware lidded pot with an Lambert, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie ash glaze and brushed iron pigment and Norah Braden, Phyllis Baron decoration, c.1935. and Dorothy Larcher) they forged Norah Braden creative partnerships that opened out P.74.152.a-b a space of possibility. Breaking out of and defying what were considered Rolled pottery, bisque and porcelain ‘normative’ or constrained ways of clay figurine,Women’s Lib (Opus 1), being, these independent thinking 1977. women were/are pioneers or pivotal in Audrey Blackman their fields. P.77.14

In her book Eileen Gray and the Hand block-printed cotton length, Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying Ashcroft, 1930s. In, Jasmin Rault describes Katherine Enid Marx Pleydell-Bouverie, Enid Marx, T.76.5 Phyllis Baron and Dorothy Larcher as being amongst the numerous Silk georgette handkerchief with sexually dissident women who positive block prints. dedicated significant creative and Joyce Clissold critical energy to reconfigurations T.82.21 and reconsiderations of domestic and interior spaces and design. This Silk georgette handkerchief with “commitment to designing spaces for positive block prints. sexually dissident modernity” paved Joyce Clissold the way for those who followed like the T.82.23 inimitable Carole Waller. christopher frayling:

Silk crepeThe de chine scarf, Face in the Trustee: 1981 – 2004 River, with brush-painted decoration, Chair: 1982 – 2004 1993. Carole Waller The founders of the CSC hoped that T.97.7 it would in time become a three-way resource: for makers, for scholars, Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher at and for a much-needed conversation Hambutts House, Painswick, c.1940s. between them; this fiftieth birthday is Barron and Larcher archive an opportunity for the CSC to enjoy BLC/1/7 its real achievements where all three are concerned – and to re-appraise Hand block-printed curtains and sofa these achievements in the light of a upholstered with Peach, by Phyllis particularly dynamic half century of craft Barron and Dorothy Larcher. activity and craft thinking. Barron and Larcher archive BLC/1/10/1 Sir Christopher Frayling is a writer, historian and critic on popular culture, Linen tablecloth with silk thread and is a Distinguished Professor at the embroidery, c.1900. University of Lancaster and Chancellor May Morris of Arts University Bournemouth. T.87.3.b

Ceramic model of workshop and kiln at Abiko, Japan, 1917. Bernard Leach P.75.68 sarah paul griffin: harper:

Trustee: 2018 – present Trustee: 2018 – present

Sarah Griffin is an independent curator When we were invited to select specialising in the applied arts, and a objects from the Crafts Study Centre’s collector of contemporary ceramics. collections I thought that I should have a set of criteria or principals to guide my choices. I would look for objects Cube in a Cube, large box in that related to makers who had some Madrona and anodised aluminium personal significance for me early in my veneer with a plywood carcass, 2011. career, shaping my ideas about craft Fred Baier and craftspeople. The central figure 2012.1 in this regard is the letter-cutter and engraver, Bryant Fedden, my father-in- Pool, hand-built earthenware vessel law. Bryant had a sense of integrity that with slip decoration, 2012. was a consistent thread running through Alison Britton his work and life, and he represented 2014.21 my archetype for a craftsperson. Theo Moorman and Ray Finch were part of China Earth II, five porcelain vessels his circle and extended the model, in an aluminium, wood and plexiglass both combining introspective creative vitrine, 2015. work with an outward looking interest Edmund de Waal in the world. My local museum in 2016.47 Cheltenham had introduced me to the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Single Hook Figure, sliced loofah Cotswolds and the socialistic attitudes dipped in grey slip, 1991. that characterised the makers who Gillian Lowndes had settled there, compounding my 2013.14 idealised image. One of the earliest texts on craft that I encountered was Square Vessel Rounded Feet, hand- David Pye’s The Nature and Art of built ceramic vessel, 2005. Workmanship, which both challenged Simon Carroll my romanticism and drew me to the 2015.8 realities of materials and practice.

Ceramic jug, Swirl, with trailed slip I had a notion that, given my particular decoration, 2015. interest in craftspeople, I would try to Philip Eglin include documents as well as objects 2018.1 in making my selection. I gave myself a day in Farnham, with my fellow Trustees Tim Parry-Williams and Cherry Ann Knott, and imagined myself poring over letters and sketch-books that would reveal something about the distinctive qualities and values that I associated Engraved glass bowl with the with craft. A simple plan… However, inscription Lacrimae Rerum. faced with the extent and scope of Bryant Fedden the collections held by the Centre, C.97.2 dispersed over more than one site, with an evolving catalogue, my plan One of a pair of rush-seated oak fell apart. An archive is an immersive spindle-back armchairs. thing that demands time. Even with the William Morris and Co. patient assistance of Greta Bertram, the F.74.3.a Curator, I lost myself in unpacking and repacking boxes, wandering through Rectangular elm platter with gouged shelves of pots, sifting through files, lines, 1949 – 1950. alternating between deep absorption David Pye and rising panic. I should have allowed F.78.14 a month for this task! Earthenware butter dish with brushed So, in the end, time has been the decoration. defining factor in my selection. Winchcombe Pottery Overwhelmed by the vast accumulation P.74.69.a-b of documents, I’ve ended up choosing objects. I was mostly drawn to small Stoneware lidded crock, with a glazed things, quietly spectacular – like the interior and unglazed exterior, 1962. exquisite Simmonds carving, Sidney Ray Finch Tustin’s little pot, or Lucie Rie’s beautiful P.74.100.a-b buttons. I have picked out an almost arbitrary assortment of things that Selection of glazed earthenware connect in some way to my original buttons, 1945 – 1947. intention, but which, I hope, more Lucie Rie importantly, will just reveal something P.95.various of the richness of the collections. As a relatively new trustee, this was an Hand block-printed cotton length, opportunity to become more familiar Hazlitt, 1920s – 1930s. with the resources held by the Centre. I Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher have merely whetted my appetite. T.74.212

Dr Paul Harper lectures on critical Photographic portrait of the weaver and contextual studies at Middlesex Theo Moorman. University, School of Art and Design, Theo Moorman archive and London Metropolitan University, 90.23 The Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design. victoria kelley:

Drawings of mice by William Trustee: 2019 – present Simmonds. William Simmonds archive The Crafts Study Centre is full of 2004.24 beautiful objects, made by renowned crafts people whose skill is exceptional Wool, linen and cotton and wool and justly recognised. My colleagues, all woven hanging, 1970s. experts in contemporary and historical Theo Moorman craft, and many of whom are skilled 2013.39 makers in their own right, have chosen examples of these beautiful objects. My Carved ivory sculpture depicting a approach has been slightly different, World War I scene, 1921. as I claim no expertise as a historian or William Simmonds critic of the crafts, and certainly have 2002.1 no skill as a maker. I am a historian of material culture, concerned with Carved ivory sculpture depicting a everyday and anonymous objects, made wood nymph with animals, 1926. by largely unknown hands. I’ve kept William Simmonds to what I know (at the same time as 2002.3 enjoying what I don’t in the selections of my colleagues), choosing from the Carved ivory sculpture depicting a Crafts Study Centre’s many ‘source family of mice, 1920. collections’. These assemblages of William Simmonds traditional objects, have been brought 2013.37 together by esteemed makers as inspiration – technical or aesthetic – for Carved ivory sculptures, 1920s. their own work. William Simmonds 2002.1, 2002.3 and 2013.37 These objects vary widely in materials, techniques, geography and date Linen tablecloth with silk thread (I think I have the small distinction embroidery, c.1900. of choosing the oldest item in the May Morris exhibition, a Chinese bowl from the T.87.3.b twelfth or thirteenth century), but they are united by several characteristics. They all provoked the interest and the collecting zeal of the more recent craft makers who acquired them. The knitted slippers and embroidered Punjabi shirt, for instance, are both from weaver Ethel Mairet’s source collection, and she valued them as representative of textile traditions that fed her own work and understanding. All these objects are anonymous, the Professor Victoria Kelley is the Director product of unknown skilled hands, of Research and Education at the made perhaps for sale in pre-industrial University for the Creative Arts. systems of commercial production (the Chinese bowl and Korean wine pot?), or in a domestic context (the jacket and Small Chinese stoneware bowl from slippers?). The sturdy Chinese pickle Bernard Leach’s source collection, jar from Bernard Leach’s collection 12th–13th century. evidences retail traditions, having been Unknown used to transport goods to market. P.79.3 Finally, many of these objects show that craft is not just about making, but also Chinese stoneware pickle jar from using, and that use might bring about Bernard Leach’s source collection, changes that require further clever c.1900. crafted interventions. The little bowl and Unknown the wine pot have both been broken P.79.28 (a detached spout, a chipped rim) and beautifully mended. The knitted slippers Korean porcelain wine pot with inlaid are distinctly worn, especially on their celadon decoration from Bernard soles, and in one place have been Leach’s source collection, 14th quickly but effectively darned. century. Unknown These objects from the source P.79.36 collections sit behind the work of makers such as Mairet, Leach, and Pair of knitted and embroidered weaver Peter Collingwood, and I like woollen slippers. to think they were valued not just as Unknown technical guides, but also as objects 2004.202.3.1-2 of everyday use with rich histories inscribed in their chips and tatters. The Embroidered silk women’s shirt or North Indian camel girths collected ‘kurta’ from Punjab, India. by Collingwood are a particularly Unknown disreputable bunch, shabby, grubby 2004.203.116 and very well-worn. Collingwood’s notes suggest that he enjoyed them as Woven woollen textile pieces with such, alongside their value as clues to embroidered decoration. weaving technique: ‘bought at Bana, Unknown Rajasthan 1989 . . . although a wreck’; 2004.202.9.1-2 ‘very dirty and worn, coarsely mended with dried out leather patches’; ‘bought Goat hair camel girth made by ply- from Mr Manuhbi, Ahmedabad . . . split darning, from Gujarat, India. much worn out and patched at one end Unknown – obviously used quite a lot’. 2009.22.577 cherry ann knott:

Goat hair and cotton camel girth Trustee: 1989 – present made using ply-splitting techniques, Acquisitions Committee: 1985 – 2004 from Gujarat, India. Unknown The Crafts Study Centre was 2009.22.578 engendered by a diverse group of people who shared a deep interest Two goat hair camel girths made in the work of mid-20th-century using ply-splitting techniques, from craftspeople. They were united in Gujarat, India. believing that it was important for Unknown makers’ knowledge, skills, ideas 2009.22.577 and 2009.22.578 and imagination, experiments and accomplishments to become more widely appreciated and understood. Access not only to excellent examples of their work, but also to a wide range of archival and other supporting and contextual materials was seen as key to facilitating greater awareness and influence. Collecting and securing the future of these resources, and enabling them to be available as widely as possible for display, serious study and research, became their driving objective.

Among the founding and earliest trustees of the Crafts Study Centre were a good number of men and women who were themselves respected and influential artists, designers and makers, across a range of disciplines. This inclusion as trustees of a strong representation of practitioners distinguished in their own fields has continued to be been a mainstay of the CSC.

Those closely involved from the outset, when the trust was set up and steps were taken to established the Centre in its own accommodation within the Holburne Museum in Bath – engraver Robin Tanner, potter Henry Hammond and weaver/textile designer Marianne Detailed trials for The Sun in Straub (all trustees from 1970, and for Splendour, ink, gold and vellum, towards 20 years thereafter) – alas did c.1980. not live to see the move to the CSC’s Heather Child purpose-designed building in Farnham. C.96.3.e Nor did calligrapher Heather Child, who became a trustee in 1976, silversmith Cut-sided stoneware bowl with a Richard Goodden, a trustee from 1981, tenmoku glaze, c.1963. and textile printer and designer, Susan Richard Batterham Bosence (from 1988). Furniture maker, P.74.153 Alan Peters, who joined the trustees in 1988, was however at the opening Small porcelain bowl with brushed celebration in Farnham in June 2004. decoration, 1984. The 1990s saw the addition as trustees Henry Hammond of potters John Leach and Michael P.89.4 Casson, and weaver Amelia Uden. The new century has brought potters Cotton length with over-dyed paste- Edmund de Waal and Alison Britton, resist decoration, 1950s – 1970s. calligrapher Ewan Clayton, weaver Tim Susan Bosence Parry-Williams and woodworker Jim T.75.5 Partridge to the list of trustees whose work is known world-wide. Several of Handwoven cotton cloth, with a these trustees, as well as many other broken twill or compound warp well-known craftspeople have assisted structure. the development of the CSC’s collection Marianne Straub as members of the Acquisition 2010.2.1 Committee. Artist’s etching proof, August in Sadly, of all the earlier ‘maker’ trustees, Wiltshire, 1976. only Richard Batterham (a trustee in the Robin Tanner mid-1970s) and John Leach (through 2012.9.10 the 1990s) are still alive. It is therefore those significant trustees of the last Model conference table, oak and oak three decades of the 20th century that veneer, for a commissioned piece my selection of items from the CSC’s for the British Insurance Brokers’ collection seeks to commemorate. Association, 1985. Alan Peters Cherry Ann Knott is a craft historian and 2012.13.3.a-b curator. Drawloom weaving sample with a graphic design, c.1980. Amelia Uden 2019.22 stephen knott:

Agenda for a meeting of The Society Acquisitions Committee: for Education through Art with 2017 – present annotations by Henry Hammond, 1964. In celebrating fifty years of the Henry Hammond archive repository of British studio craft, the HA.876.2 objects in the Crafts Study Centre’s collection, of course, merit the limelight. Letter from Gordon Russell Ltd to the But there are treasures among the Under Secretary of State at the Alien archive too. And the countless papers, Department, Home Office in support lists, inventories, sample books, kiln of Lucie Rie’s residence in England, records, correspondence, finance 1938. sheets, journal entries, lecture notes Lucie Rie archive and minutes from committee meetings RIE/3/4 arguably convey the hard work, passion, debate, and social contexts that Letter from Robin and Heather underpinned the production of these Tanner to Lucie Rie offering thanks exceptional objects most effectively. and congratulations following the broadcast of an interview between This selection is designed to reflect Rie and David Attenborough on the the diversity of the archival ephemera BBC, 1982. as well as highlight some of the Lucie Rie archive contemporaneous characteristics of RIE/11/10/1 the studio craft movement that are often overlooked. For example, the Large stoneware jug with a salt glaze illustrations for Denise Wren’s DIY kick and sgraffito decoration, 1980s. wheel, Ethel Mairet’s small prospectus Michael Casson for her Ditchling Weaving School, 2005.30 the how-to manuals and Edward Johnston’s lecture notes all signify the importance of studio craft as an educational philosophy. Most of the figures represented in the archives had flourishing careers in education and it was in the workshops and seminars – from Dartington and the Central School of Arts and Crafts to the more humble courses run by Wren from her Surrey pottery – where the legacy of studio craft was built.

Material from the Red Rose Guild exhibitions held in Manchester from 1920 are included to bring attention to the interface between studio period where the pottery was in a weak craftspeople and an emerging ‘craft financial position. consciousness’ among the wider public. The now-ubiquitous craft fair was a Among my selection are a number new phenomenon of the 1920s, with of how-to books published by the demonstrations and the opportunity pioneering studio craftspeople. As we to buy direct from makers cultivating are inundated today with step-by-step a new consumer environment (even guides, Youtube tutorials and handy though the hangovers of Victorian reference works, we could easily forget stricture remained as manifest in the importance of manuals to the the woven garments produced by studio craft movement. They described ‘Crippled Girls’). By way of contrast, process, yes, but they also comprised Mairet’s correspondence with May entire philosophies, articulated through Griffin provides evidence of the the way in which the reader was occasional disown shown by prominent instructed to hold, cut, thread, position, studio craftspeople towards craft’s grind, knead, shape and weave. popularisation. In her letter Mairet unleashed a fierce critique of those Dr Stephen Knott is a writer and women in Griffin’s Surrey village who researcher in craft theory and history, were merely ‘playing around with and is a Lecturer in Critical and a shuttle’ in their efforts to set up a Historical Studies at Kingston University. weaving workshop.

The studio craft movement occurred under the shadow of industrial Pamphlet for The Ditchling Weaving production’s dominance. Its School established by Ethel Mairet, adherents regularly situated their c.1940. work in opposition to the mechanical, Ethel Mairet archive automated and standardised. However, 2002.21.23 two of my selections remind us that studio craftspeople were rarely able Correspondence between Ethel to retreat to the isolated bubble of Mairet and May Griffin about Miss the workshop: Lucie Rie had to keep a Griffin’s plans to establish a weaving close eye on expenses during her early school, 1933. years in London as an émigré potter Ethel Mairet archive and had to earn her bread and butter 2002.21 from producing buttons for the fashion industry; and David Leach underwent ‘Formation of Letters’, doodles on the rigorous training in Stoke-on-Trent in back of notes prepared for a lecture order to save his father’s St. Ives pottery on writing and illumination by Edward in the 1930s. Bernard’s celebrated Johnston, 1899. early ware from St. Ives might fetch the Edward Johnston archive highest prices at auction but it was a 2/326 Notebook, Pottery Notes, by David Flyer advertising the Annual Leach recording experiments at Exhibition of the Red Rose Guild, Dartington in connection with clays, 1924. glazes, slips and pigments, October Red Rose Guild archive 1933 to July 1934. RRG/5/1/1 David Leach archive DAL/1 Diary by Miss Manchester from the Manchester Evening News, 27 Sketch of ‘The Oxshott Kick Wheel’, October 1938. intended so that people could build Red Rose Guild archive their own potter’s wheel, 1910s – RRG/8/1 1920s. Oxshott Pottery archive Selection of ‘how-to’ books by OXP/61 pioneering studio craftspeople, including Michael Cardew, Edward ‘A cup of tea amongst the clays’, Johnston, Ethel Mairet, and Denise Denise and Henry Wren with a and Henry Wren. student and an apprentice at Potters Crafts Study Centre Library Croft in Oxshott, Surrey, 1920s. Oxshott Pottery archive A letter from Bernard Leach to Laurie OXP/68 Cookes, 1934. Bernard Leach Students from Coloma Training 2019.2 College, Croydon, having tea at Potters Croft in Oxshott, Surrey, 1932. A Potter’s Book by Bernard Leach. Oxshott Pottery archive Signed by Bernard Leach, Shoji OXP/71.a Hamada and Soetsu Yanagi. Crafts Study Centre Library Students from Coloma Training College, Croydon, unpacking a kiln at Potters Croft in Oxshott, Surrey, 1932. Oxshott Pottery archive OXP/71.b

Lucie Rie’s cash book recording expenditure on wages and petty cash, April 1947 to July 1948. Lucie Rie archive RIE/5/7/1 lesley millar:

Trustee: 2018 – present to my time ‘doing’ Chelsea Crafts Fair – I loved her jewellery, its quirkiness, Faced with the treasure trove of beautiful her strange creatures always made objects that is the Crafts Study Centre’s me smile and seem now to epitomise collection from which to choose, in the how exciting it was to be working and end, I have selected those with which I selling at that time. It is colour again have a personal connection – well almost that attracts me to Emmanuel Cooper’s all... The objects and their creators pots combined with the perfectly take me right back to my earliest days achieved shapes. When he visited working in and with textiles, and forward our stand at Chelsea and bought a to recent projects. rug from me, I was overwhelmed, and gifted a new confidence through his Mary Restieaux had been a very purchase. successful student on my course a couple of years before me and her Diana Harrison has been in my life extraordinary talent had, unknown to in one way or another for more than me, meant that when I knocked on the 40 years. We met in 1975 when we door of the course leader asking to be both had studio space in the London admitted, he welcomed me in. And workshop 401½, and we have been then I discovered her work, vibrantly colleagues here at UCA Farnham since alive with colour at a time when 1986. I have admired and respected weavers had a tendency for the muted her work throughout that time, in and I was captured, wholly, and still am. all its different stages, and have been fortunate to have been able to Moving forward in my textile life, I include it in several of the exhibitions was incredibly fortunate to be offered I have curated. Diana exemplifies the an apprenticeship with the Graffham very best of the Farnham approach Weavers, founded by Gwen Mullins to textile practice, possessing the and run by her and her daughter essential combination of technical Barbara Mullins. This was where I learnt skills of the highest order and supreme the tough realities of understanding understanding of her materials, both how to run a studio, albeit in the acquired over years of practice. Look idyllic surroundings of the West carefully at the surfaces of her work Sussex countryside. Gwen Mullins was and you will discover layers of material a remarkable woman who believed narrative which will keep you coming absolutely in the importance of craft back again and again. – a donation from her enabled the foundation of what is now the Crafts Finally to the one selected object Council – and we all have every reason with which I have no connection – Ray to be grateful to her. Key’s wooden bowl, selected for no other reason than I love beautifully My connection with Maura Heslop turned wooden objects, and this is and Emmanuel Cooper both belong a perfect example, made by hand john neilson: and meant to be held in the hand – if Acquisitions Committee: only it were mine. This is what the 2004 – present Crafts Study Centre offers us with such generosity: the opportunity to By accident rather than design, the experience exquisitely crafted objects founding fathers of twentieth-century that otherwise would be outside our British calligraphy and lettercarving, reach. Long may it continue. Edward Johnston (1872 – 1944) and Eric Gill (1882 – 1940) loom large Professor Lesley Millar is Professor in my selection. But perhaps this of Textile Culture, Director of the is not surprising. Their influence International Textile Research Centre was huge, especially among those at the University for the Creative Arts practitioners whose work dominates and an exhibition curator specialising the Crafts Study Centre’s lettering in textiles. collection. As a lettercarver myself, I have chosen mostly carved lettering. Though outnumbered by calligraphers, Loom woven linen and woollen rug, there are several lettercarvers and Secrets, 1971. letter painters in the collection: in Gwen Mullins addition to those whose work I have T.74.36 selected these include John Skelton, Ieuan Rees, Sydney Bendall, Michael Porcelain jug with a yellow glaze and Harvey, Donald Potter, Charles gold lustre decoration, 2005. Smith, David & Richard Kindersley, Emmanuel Cooper William Sharpington. Often they are 2005.22 represented by rubbings, drawings or photographs rather than actual pieces. Animal Brooch, steel, silver and gold. I have chosen just one rubbing: of a Maura Heslop headstone by Jack Trowbridge (1937– 2006.20.33 2017), long-time assistant to Gill’s nephew John Skelton, but one of the Bowl, natural topped burr mulberry, UK’s most original lettering designers 1986. and carvers in his own right. Ray Key 2006.20.105 The only work in the CSC attributed to Gill himself is the inscribed garden roller shown here. Dating from around 1920, when Gill lived on Ditchling Common, it was made for Ethel Mairet, the weaver, who lived in Ditchling. Edward Johnston taught Gill calligraphy and inspired him to take up lettercarving. The piece I have selected is a fine demonstration of the vigour and strength of Johnston’s Now in his fifties, Gary Breeze is the writing. youngest letterer in my selection. His work combines fine design and I had the great fortune to be taught execution with conceptual invention lettercarving by Tom Perkins, whose – there is always a point or a twist to lettering design has a rigour and taut what he makes, and a reason for it energy second to none. And the Word being carved in stone. Here, the text is was Made Stone, from a quote by a blues lyric – itself based on a quote David Jones about Gill’s work, is one from Archimedes – translated back into of Tom’s best-known pieces, not least Classical Greek. because it appears on the cover of his book The Art of Letter Carving in John Neilson is a lettercarver and Stone. lettering designer.

The CSC acquired a substantial part of the archive of the lettercarver Ralph Broadside, I see His blood upon the Beyer after his death in 2008. Beyer rose, ink on vellum, 1929. was exiled in 1937, at the age of Edward Johnston seventeen, from his native Germany to C.77.7 Gill’s workshop, by then at Pigotts in the Chilterns. That time left an indelible Part rubbing and part drawing of impression, but Beyer would come Duncan Grant’s headstone, cut by to develop his own original, more Jack Trowbridge. informal style. This late piece, made Jack Trowbridge in 1992, is of Clipsham limestone and C.92.5 the words are by Paul Klee and first appeared in an exhibition catalogue And the word was made stone, cut in 1920. They also appeared in Klee’s lettering on Belgian limestone, 1990. grave epitaph. Tom Perkins C.93.4 Recently the substantial archive of the Edward Johnston Foundation was Garden roller with inscriptions on transferred to the CSC. It contains either end carved by Eric Gill for Ethel a wealth of material, as yet largely Mairet, c.1910s. uncatalogued, by lettering artists Eric Gill including Michael Renton (1934– F.74.6 2001). Renton was an accomplished lettercarver, wood engraver, letter Archimedes Blue II, cut lettering on painter, illustrator, calligrapher, printer. Aberllefenni slate, 2003. The two wood-engraved blocks here, Gary Breeze and prints therefrom, are a small taster 2015.1 of the treasures in the archive. tim parry-williams:

Somewhat closer to the heart of Trustee: 2008 – present creation, cut lettering on Clipsham Acquisitions Committee: stone, 1992. 2008 – present Ralph Beyer 2018.59 Professor Tim Parry-Williams is a studio weaver and Professor of Art:Textiles at Wooden printing blocks and prints the University of Bergen in Norway. taken from them, 1980s. Edward Johnston Foundation collection Michael Renton Bowl with a uranium yellow glaze and a band of manganese around the rim. Michael Renton at work carving a Lucie Rie printing block. P.74.80 Edward Johnston Foundation collection Photographer unknown Necklace with press-moulded ceramic buttons, 1950s. Lucie Rie P.91.1

Hand-spun Nigerian cotton blouse half, c.1930s. Elizabeth Peacock T.74.66

Duplicate page from Volume 1 of Phyllis Barron 1890 – 1964 Dorothy Larcher 1884 – 1952: A record of their block-printed textiles compiled by Robin Tanner in the 1970s, showing the design French Stripe. Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher and Robin Tanner 2001.1.c.56

A sample book, Susan Bosence: a record of her hand block printing and resist dyeing, compiled by Anne Hinkins in 1995 showing the design France ‘82. Susan Bosence and Anne Hinkins 2001.3 andrew renton:

A sample book compiled by Robin Trustee: 2008 – present Tanner documenting the weaving of Acquisitions Committee: Rita Beales. 2015 – present Rita Beales and Robin Tanner 2009.2.1 I hope my selection shows how the simplest of premises – in this case, the Stainless steel yarn bangle. theme of interweaving lines – can easily Peter Collingwood lead you into the richness and diversity 2018.14.3 of the Crafts Study Centre’s remarkable collections. Sketches of pots on an envelope by Bernard Leach. Ink, paper and pencil. There are formal similarities between Bernard Leach archive the objects I have chosen, but each BHL/1049 is the result of quite different ways of thinking about materials. The physical Letter from Soetsu Yanagi to Bernard characteristics of these different Leach, July 1960. materials give each its own inherent Bernard Leach archive expressive and structural potential, and BHL/11666 dictate the working methods possible. The objects reveal the fascination of Notebook, Weaving notes 1925 – makers and artists for exploring the 1929, by Alice Hindson containing interaction between skills, materials notes made when she was working in and imagination. Skills, materials, Luther Hooper’s workshop. imagination, coming together to create Alice Hindson inspirational objects. This is the magic 2002.19 that the collections of the Crafts Study Centre document and celebrate.

My own particular interest has been in the ceramics collection and archives, which I have studied to carry out research into the potter Bernard Leach. One pleasure of being a Trustee and, more particularly, Chair of the Acquisitions Committee, is the opportunity to diversify this interest and to understand better practices such as lettering and weaving that I have not known much about.

A line – of thread or clay slip, traced in ink or carved in wood – is a gesture. Like any gesture, it becomes more complex and more interesting when One of the great strengths of the Crafts it interacts with another gesture. This Study Centre is its connectedness. creates a kind of physical narrative Stories and interests weave through that leads our eyes and our minds into the collections, across media and exploring the object that these gestures across time. This connectedness is also construct. In this way, Lucie Rie’s finely outward-looking. Over half a century, incised lines suggest a delicate net the Centre has formed relationships draped over her porcelain box. The across the globe as part of a fellowship crossed lines trailed in slip by Bernard of craft-focussed creativity and research Leach, or block-printed on fabric by that continues to be highly relevant Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher or and inspiring in an ever more digitised by Enid Marx, create a visual texture world. analogous to the real texture produced by woven threads. Andrew Renton is Keeper of Art at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. David Pye enlivened the surface of his turned cherry-wood dish by first cutting straight lines from the rim to Rough for a front cover to celebrate the centre, then over-cutting these with the 50th Anniversary of the Society eccentric cuts, all made with the aid of a of Scribes and Illuminators, ink on mechanical ‘fluting engine’ that he built tracing paper, 1971. himself. Irene Wellington C.84.138.k.ix Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie did something similar in her slipware dish, Oval cherry wood dish with a cross- boldly combing through a snaking trail cut pattern, 1978. of slip, which itself runs back and forth David Pye across the concentric throwing rings. F.78.4

I enjoy how the overlapping lines of Porcelain cigarette box with sgraffito Irene Wellington reflect her competing decoration, 1960. ideas for the design of the cover of a Lucie Rie folder marking the 50th Anniversary of P.74.115.a-b the Society of Scribes and Illuminators. Alongside this metaphorical weaving, I Small lidded pot with slipware have chosen actual textiles: a beautifully decoration, 1933. textured hand-woven scarf from Ethel Bernard Leach Mairet’s workshop and, by contrast, an P.75.43.a-b example of the innovative approach of Peter Collingwood, one of Mairet’s Unomi with brushed decoration, 1921. students, who helped to re-imagine Bernard Leach what weaving could be. P.75.60 sharon ting:

Large slipware dish with trailed lines Acquisitions Committee: on the interior and incised lines on the 2013 – present exterior, 1961. Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie Sharon Ting is Programme Director P.84.7 Textiles at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. Handwoven fringed woollen scarf, 1944 – 1945. Esmee Davis Peyumbra, woven wool and cotton T.82.29 hanging, 1985. Mary Farmer Hand block-printed cotton sample, T.86.1 untitled, c.1931. Enid Marx Handwoven goat’s hair rug, 1994. TS.76.49 Stella Benjamin T.94.3 Duplicate page from Volume 1 of Phyllis Barron 1890 – 1964 Dorothy Painted cashmere scarf from the Larcher 1884 – 1952: A record of their series Loose Weave Series 1, 2017. block-printed textiles compiled by Kate Blee Robin Tanner in the 1970s, showing 2018.52 the design Guinea. Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher and Woven Linen macrogauze hanging, Robin Tanner 1981. 2001.1.c.64 Peter Collingwood 2003.36 Woven Linen macrogauze hanging, 1981. Notebook, Weaving notes 1925 – Peter Collingwood 1929, by Alice Hindson containing 2003.36 notes made when she was working in Luther Hooper’s workshop. Alice Hindson 2002.19 edward wates:

Trustee: 2019 – present of brush-painted leaves that make Acquisitions Committee: up Easter Hymn by Sue Hufton. The 2017 – present tactile quality of this delicate piece on handmade paper forms an essential In what is inevitably a personal part of its charm. Alison Urwick also selection, I found myself drawn initially uses a brush in her work on fabric, to calligraphy that display a particular A ship, an isle, a sickle moon. The technical mastery. I have long been an particular qualities of the cloth and the admirer of Joan Pilsbury’s effortlessly lack of a frame make this a real ‘thing’ consistent italic hand, which is shown – not necessarily present in works on to great effect in this delightful 1959 paper behind glass. collaboration with Wendy Westover, The Pageant of the Summer (made for Integrating text and image is a challenge Heather Child). Heather Child herself not always understood by calligraphers achieves a sense of elegant composure as the linear nature of calligraphy can with her deceptively straightforward sit uneasily with the tonal qualities rendering of this Michelangelo sonnet of painting. The way text and image whose success depends, amongst combine as a single, intimate whole in other things, on the subtle treatment John Woodcock’s, The Universe, shows of those lines that extend into the left- how this can be achieved. Hazel Dolby hand margin. has a painter’s background and is a rare example of a lettering artist whose work But nowhere is technical skill successfully displays a concern with in combination with an original the unification of form and content. In imagination displayed more effectively Kimmeridge Tryptich, her letterforms than in Irene Wellington’s Deep springs literally form part of the abstract of happiness, made as a birthday gift landscape, while ‘meaning’ is suggested in 1942. This is frequently seen in rather than explicit. reproduction, but nothing beats the real thing! Ann Hechle was Irene’s The direct perception of meaning, on student, and has inherited not only the other hand, is important to Gaynor her delicacy of touch but also her Goffe, but in A dream reminds she concern with truth and the importance plays with more traditional letterforms of intention. I chose one of a series to push the boundaries of legibility and of Ann’s calligraphic panels from thus interrupt the viewer into a more 1981 exploring the visual aspects of considered response. She is a left- language in which she characteristically handed calligrapher whose astonishing engages with a variety of texts technique is particularly evident in deployed using a perfectly balanced the confident lines and broad sweeps combination of weight and form. of this piece. Legibility is pushed even further by Ewan Clayton, whose Immaculate craftsmanship of a different concern is to use gesture to record the kind is displayed in the exquisite series particular moment, often expressive of deeply personal thoughts and feelings. Easter Hymn, painted lettering in In the pencilled notes that accompany gouache on paper, 1990. this piece, Clayton almost comes full Sue Hufton circle to Edward Johnston, whose habit C.97.1 of providing an integral gloss to the work he echoes. Page from the manuscript diary The Book of Hours for the Vernal Equinox, Edward Wates is a calligrapher and Japanese ink and gouache on paper, book artist, and Chair of both the Irene 2004. Wellington Educational Trust and the Ewan Clayton Commonwork Trust. 2004.29

Kimmeridge Triptych, a set of three Double opening, Violet (deep springs painted and gilded panels on mill of happiness), paint and ink on vellum, board, 2003 – 2004. 1942. Hazel Dolby Irene Wellington 2004.39.1–3 C.84.42.a Panel, Universe, in waterproof ink and Hanging, A ship, an isle, a sickle gold, 1995. [Words from the Mother moon, brush lettering in gouache and of the Spheres by Henry Vaughan, gold on silk, 1980. 1665]. Alison Urwick John Woodcock C.87.14 2008.4.14

Double opening with a quotation Panel, A dream reminds, ink and from Pageant of Summer by Richard metal leaf on paper, 2009. Jefferies. Ink, watercolour and gold Gaynor Goffe on paper and vellum 1964]. 2011.2 Wendy Westover and Joan Pilsbury C.87.30

Panel, Michelangelo Sonnet, ink on vellum, 1981. Heather Child C.91.1

Narrative, one of four panels from the Aspects of Language series. Watercolour paint and stick ink on vellum, 1981. Ann Hechle C.95.8.i ben williams:

Trustee: 2011 – present

Ben Williams is an advisor, valuer and broker in modern and contemporary British, Japanese and American studio ceramics.

Albarello (medicinal jar) with brushed decoration, 1912. Bernard Leach 2013.26

Etching, In a Tokyo Park, 1918. Bernard Leach 2013.27

Notebook, Pottery Notes 1955 – 6 and List of My Collection. Bernard Leach 2016.44.1

Three-handled vase, or tyg, with a Cornish crest, 1924 – 1936. Michael Cardew at the Leach Pottery 2018.76

A letter from Bernard Leach to Laurie Cookes, 1934. Bernard Leach 2019.2

A Potter’s Book by Bernard Leach. Signed by Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada and Soetsu Yanagi. Crafts Study Centre Library