-- A unique mix of design and commentary by Walter Moorcroft.
-- Gives a rare glimpse into the life and works of the Moorcroft family and company.

Memories of Life and Living is a personal reflection by the renowned potter, Walter Moorcroft. on a life spanning eight decades. Walter inherited the factory from his famous father. William, when he was only 28.

This is a richly illustrated process volume. including many color plates of the author's designs to which are added his personal views and comments. The memoir contains descriptions of significant event and amusing anecdotes taken from Walter's diaries. This fascinating and often wryly humorous book is accompanied by a wealth of illustrations, providing a documentary of the family.

Ceramic jewellery is an ever-growing area of the ceramic world. Although ceramic beads have been around for as long as pots have, the idea of ceramic jewellery has been making a comeback in a much more glamorous and professional form than ever before. This book shows how ceramic can be combined with other materials such as silver, gold, feathers, leather, textiles or stone to create some unique and innovative pieces. The book looks at how to source or create your own fittings and findings, the problems of design and the practicalities of joining the various elements to create a successful piece. The book is well illustrated both with practical images and beautiful photos of finished work from an international range of artists.

When digging for clues about an ancient society's culture, nothing is more valuable to an archaeologist than ceramic remnants. Dawn Whitehand explains why. Her text is the first to comprehensively explore the complex nature of pit firing based on historical evidence and the artistic perspectives of contemporary ceramicists. Many specialist texts discuss ceramics from an artistic, craft-based, anthropological, archaeological, or historical viewpoint. This book draws information from all these sources and presents it in an informative and accessible manner. Included is a historical chapter, a how-to chapter, and a series of artist profiles that showcase the pit fired ceramics of contemporary practitioners. The book contains detailed photographs of the process and a glossary for those who wish to further explore pit firing and ceramics. It will appeal to everyone from the novice ceramicist to the serious art historian and collector.

This is the first book to showcase the work of acclaimed ceramic artist Jennifer McCurdy. Collectors and art enthusiasts will be delighted to gaze at these luminescent forms, lyrically accompanied by the poetry of Jennifer's sister, Wendy Mulhern. Dozens of color photographs, plus a section on evolution and process that's illustrated with forty-five color images, clearly show the depth and brilliance of Jennifer's work. In this collaboration Jennifer and Wendy celebrate art and how it holds things that can't be contained in any other way. These vessels, of porcelain and poetry, resonate with each other, engaging an intimate conversation. The evolution and process section provides insight into both the internal process of artistry and the physical and temporal dedication essential to bringing forth a life's body of work.

The core of the collection of Greek vases at Harrow School is the gift of Sir John. Gardner Wilkinson, a leading Egyptologist of the mid nineteenth century whose wide range of interests is well demonstrated by his skill in collecting Greek vases, as well as his still influential books on Egypt. The collection is by no means an ordinary one, since it contains more than its share of Athenian masterpieces as well as a full range of wares from other parts of Greece and Italy. It includes the name vase of the Harrow Painter, an outstanding amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, and many hitherto unpublished pieces of more than ordinary merit.

Situated within the larger context of the post-Independence craft revival, this volume pays keen attention to the transnational histories of practice through five sections. The section Shift explores the local and international lineages of Indian studio pottery. Object discusses the ways in which clay has been a unique medium of expression for many artists. Utility considers the development of Indian ceramic industries, through lenses of economics and class. Form takes as its subject hereditary potters who negotiate modern-day artistic spaces. Perception focuses on the low-fired water container and its web of connections with its makers and users. The very mutability of clay and its shaper and the resulting dynamism, that produces both tensions and opportunities, are at the centre of this book.

This latest addition to the British Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum makes available the fascinating yet under-publicised vases in the Marischal museum, University of Aberdeen. The Museum houses a number of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century collections presented to the university by their individual collectors. The range includes Attic black and red figure of extremely high quality, Corinthian, East Greek, Etruscan bucchero, Italiote and Etruscan, and South Italian red figure. Professor Moignard, who has previously published Edinburgh and Glasgow collection in the CVA series, provides a detailed introduction that discusses the history of the acquisition of the collections, collection management, and display.

Every inch of Grayson's childhood bedroom was covered with pictures of aeroplanes, and every surface with models. Fantasy took over his life, in a world of battles ruled by his teddy bear, Alan Measles. He grew up. And in 2003, an acclaimed ceramic artist, he accepted the Turner Prize as his alter-ego Clare, wearing his best dress, with a bow in his hair. Now he tells his own story, his voice beautifully caught by his friend, the writer Wendy Jones. Early childhood in Chelmsford, Essex is a rural Eden that ends abruptly with the arrival of his stepfather, leading to constant swerving between his parents' houses, and between boys' and women's clothes. But as Grayson enters art college and discovers the world of London squats and New Romanticism, he starts to find himself. At last he steps out as a potter and transvestite.

The banded agate bowl known as the Tazza Farnese is one of the most famous and admired objects from classical antiquity. That it has survived at all is a miracle. In this, the first book-length account of the "life" of this renowned masterpiece, art historian Marina Belozerskaya takes readers on a fascinating trip through history that spans two millennia and journeys from the court of Cleopatra to the sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, from Samarqand of Tamerlane to Renaissance Florence under Lorenzo de' Medici, from Baroque Rome to Enlightenment Naples. Along the way, the reader encounters the illustrious as well as the shady figures who have come into contact with this prized artifact, from emperors and conquerors, popes and princes, and artists like Botticelli and Raphael, to forgers, thieves, and a disgruntled museum guard who nearly destroyed the Tazza for all posterity. Through the prism of this most precious bowl, Medusa's Gaze brings history vividly and intimately to life.

This is the black and white paperback edition of Pattern, published in hardback in 2016 by Saltyard Books. If you would like the original colour illustrated version of Pattern it is available in hardback ISBN 9781444734942. Creativity, collaboration, inspiration Emma Bridgewater's patterns are as quintessentially British as marmalade on toast - and they have made her distinctive homewares best sellers across the world. Her inspiration is often deeply personal - a plate of her mother's, a favourite children's book - and as she tells the stories of each pattern's creation, she reveals the intricate processes of research and collaboration behind the familiar designs she has stamped on our kitchenware - and our hearts - for the past thirty years. Both an entrancing trip down memory lane and a behind-the-scenes look at a thriving creative business, Emma Bridgewater's PATTERN is essential reading for anyone who has ever turned over their mug after draining their tea and wondered about the human story behind that proud declaration: Made in Stoke-on-Trent, England...

Ceramics had a far-reaching impact in the second half of the twentieth century, as its artists worked through the same ideas regarding abstraction and form as those for other creative mediums. Live Form shines new light on the relation of ceramics to the artistic avant-garde by looking at the central role of women in the field: potters who popularized ceramics as they worked with or taught male counterparts like John Cage, Peter Voulkos, and Ken Price. Sorkin focuses on three Americans who promoted ceramics as an advanced artistic medium: Marguerite Wildenhain, a Bauhaus-trained potter and writer; Mary Caroline (M. C.) Richards, who renounced formalism at Black Mountain College to pursue new performative methods; and Susan Peterson, best known for her live throwing demonstrations on public television. Together, these women pioneered a hands-on teaching style and led educational and therapeutic activities for war veterans, students, the elderly, and many others. Far from being an isolated field, ceramics offered a sense of community and social engagement, which, Sorkin argues, crucially set the stage for later participatory forms of art and feminist collectivism.

This volume, the second in the series to catalogue the Gallery's collection of decorative arts, mainly draws from the renowned collection of the Widener and Steele families. It focuses primarily on Chinese ceramics from the Qing period, including earthenware, stoneware, and polychrome porcelain. In addition, rugs and carpets from the collection of Peter A.B. Widener are catalogued and published here for the first time.

Originally sold in five-and-ten-cent stores during the 1940s and 1950s, expertly modeled and colorfully decorated Royal Copley figurines, banks, planters, and other items have become one of today's hottest ceramic collectibles. In this first new book on the subject in 10 years, Mike Schneider uses more than 500 color photos to present 875 pieces of Royal Copley, including many previously unknown examples that have never appeared in a book before. Estimated values, based on the current market, are included in the captions, along with measurements and information about marks. Also included is a brief history of the Spaulding China Company, the Sebring, Ohio, pottery that manufactured Royal Copley. Whether you are a collector, historian, or simply someone who would like to take a nostalgic stroll through the decorative accessories of your parents' or grandparents' homes, you will find this latest volume in Schneider's repertoire of books on mid-twentieth century pottery a pleasing and important addition to your library.

2019 marked the 40th anniversary of Barbara Nanning's graduation in ceramics from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Over those forty years, Nanning (b.1957) has become an internationally respected artist with work in countless public and private collections in the Netherlands and around the world. Originally, her reputation was due mainly to her pioneering ceramics and installations, which had completely abandoned the container form that had so long dominated studio pottery. But for the last 25 years Nanning has worked chiefly in a different medium: glass, in which she has created an amazing and multi-faceted oeuvre. Each year she spends an extended period in the Czech Republic, where expert glassblowers help her to conjure up the most extraordinary and thrilling objects in that material.

The Late Mannerists were Athenian vase-painters working in the fifth century BC. They specialized in shapes used during the symposium, and had a particular flair for story telling. Their unusual style of painting combines elements of the Late Archaic period with characteristics of the Classical period.

Ceramics are an unparalleled resource for women's lives in ancient Greece, since they show a huge number of female types and activities. Yet it can be difficult to interpret the meanings of these images, especially when they seem to conflict with literary sources. This much-needed study shows that it is vital to see the vases as archaeology as well as art, since context is the key to understanding which images can stand as evidence for the real lives of women, and which should be reassessed.
Sian Lewis considers the full range of female existence in classical Greece - childhood and old age, unfree and foreign status, and the ageless woman characteristic of Athenian red-figure painting.

The books in this series provide a convenient and accessible introduction to subjects within the applied arts. Drawing examples from the world-famous collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, they furnish the reader with a wide variety of information on many different types and forms and illustrate some of the most famous as well as the most unusual examples. A general introduction is followed by entries on sixty-four individual objects, each of which is illustrated in colour. Complete with glossaries and guides to further reading, these books will prove invaluable to all collectors and enthusiasts.

Skin Crafts discusses multiple artists from global contexts who employ craft materials in works that address historical and contemporary violence. These artists are deliberately embracing the fragility of textiles and ceramics to evoke the vulnerability of human skin and - in so doing - are demanding visceral responses from viewers. Drawing on a range of theories including affect theory, material feminism, skin studies, phenomenology and global art history, the book illuminates the various ways in which artists are harnessing the affective power of craft materials to address and cope with violence. Artists from Mexico, Africa, China, the Netherlands and Indigenous artists based in the unceded territory known as Canada are examined in relation to one another to illuminate the connections and differences across their bodies of work. Skin Crafts interrogates ongoing material violence towards women and marginalized others, and demonstrates the power of contemporary art to force viewers and scholars into facing their ethical responsibilities as human beings.

This book opens up a neglected chapter in the reception of Athenian drama, especially comedy; and it gives stage-centre to a particularly attractive and entertaining series of vase-paintings, which have been generally regarded as marginal curiosities. These are the so-called `phlyax vases', nearly all painted in the Greek cities of South Italy in the period 400 t0 360 BC. Up till now, they have been taken to reflect some kind of local folk-theatre, but Oliver Taplin, prompted especially by three that have only been published in the last twelve years, argues that most, if not all, reflect Athenian comedy of the sort represented by Aristophanes. This bold thesis opens up questions of the relation of tragedy as well as comedy to vase-painting, the cultural climate of the Greek cities in Italy, and the extent to which Athenians were aware of drama as a potential `export'. It also enriches appreciation of many key aspects of Aristophanic comedy: its metatheatre and self-reference, its use of stage-action and stage-props, its unabashed indecency, and its polarised relationship, even rivalry, with tragedy. The book has assembled thirty-six photographs of vase-paintings. Many are printed here for the first time outside specialist publications that are not readily accessible.

A practical approach to all aspects of making porcelain pots and sculptures: from clays and glazes to throwing, handbuilding, slipcasting and decorating. Porcelain is known and highly praised for its delicacy, translucency, fineness and whiteness, but it has always posed particular problems for ceramicists using it. In this revised edition, Peter Lane looks at the development of porcelain in the last few years of the 20th century and at the start of the 21st. He gives particular consideration to the technical achievements, the working practices and aesthetic concerns of ceramicists who work with this most popular medium and its close relative, bone china. The works illustrated in this book demonstrate the confidence and the versatility of contemporary ceramicists who use its special characteristics in exciting and original ways. There are over 350 new illustrations and 75 new artists featured in this updated edition. The result is a breathtaking look at the exciting and innovative work that is currently being done internationally in this field. The wide diversity of porcelain objects will both inspire and enthral potters, collectors and anyone interested in fine ceramics.

Vibrant colour was essential to the paintings of the American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), and when he began exploring outdoor sculpture in the late 1970s, vivid hues-often achieved through the use of recently developed industrial paints and coatings-remained an important part of his artistic vocabulary. Today, preserving these remarkable works after they have endured decades in outdoor environments around the world is an issue of pressing concern. This abundantly illustrated volume is based on extensive archival research of his studio materials, interviews with his assistants, and a thorough technical analysis of the sculpture Three Brushstrokes, now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The book concludes with a chapter showing various options for the care, conservation, and restoration of Lichtenstein's sculptural works, making this an essential resource for conservators, curators, and others interested both in the iconic artist and modern sculpture in general.

The Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna holds a unique collection of Italian maiolica from the 15th to the 18th century, which is now being published almost in its entirety for the very first time. Maiolica tableware, Italy's luxury export, spread to the courts of northern Europe from the early 16th century. Today, the MAK's holdings from former imperial, ecclesiastical, aristocratic, and private ownership enter into a dialogue with maiolica from well-known Austrian and Central European collections. Timothy Wilson, professor emeritus at Balliol College Oxford and former Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and Rainald Franz, curator at MAK, together with other experts provide an extensive insight into the development of maiolica in its cultural and historical context. Thus a scholarly exploration of one of the best collections of maiolica in the world has now been scientifically examined for the very first time. With contributions by Rainald Franz, Michael Goebl, Nikolaus Hofer, and Timothy Wilson.

The most pervasive gods in ancient Rome had no traditional mythology attached to them, nor was their worship organized by elites. Throughout the Roman world, neighborhood street corners, farm boundaries, and household hearths featured small shrines to the beloved lares, a pair of cheerful little dancing gods. These shrines were maintained primarily by ordinary Romans, and often by slaves and freedmen, to whom the lares cult provided a unique public leadership role. In this comprehensive and richly illustrated book, the first to focus on the lares, Harriet Flower offers a strikingly original account of these gods and a new way of understanding the lived experience of everyday Roman religion. Weaving together a wide range of evidence, Flower sets forth a new interpretation of the much-disputed nature of the lares. She makes the case that they are not spirits of the dead, as many have argued, but rather benevolent protectors--gods of place, especially the household and the neighborhood, and of travel. She examines the rituals honoring the lares, their cult sites, and their iconography, as well as the meaning of the snakes often depicted alongside lares in paintings of gardens. She also looks at Compitalia, a popular midwinter neighborhood festival in honor of the lares, and describes how its politics played a key role in Rome's increasing violence in the 60s and 50s BC, as well as in the efforts of Augustus to reach out to ordinary people living in the city's local neighborhoods. A reconsideration of seemingly humble gods that were central to the religious world of the Romans, this is also the first major account of the full range of lares worship in the homes, neighborhoods, and temples of ancient Rome.

Over the last decade the narrowing of the gulf that traditionally existed between the realms of fine art and craft has resulted in a shift in perception of what ceramics can be and can mean. All areas of ceramic practice have been revitalized as a result the creative possibilities that artists, lured by the plastic and tactile qualities of clay, have brought with them into ceramics have influenced ceramists of all backgrounds. Analyzing work from the last ten years, this book covers every aspect of contemporary ceramic practice and includes work of all sizes from a few inches to large-scale installations. It is organized into five main chapters: Beyond Utility original yet functional ceramics Defining Space wheel-thrown shapes, slip-cast forms, and hand-built structures Mind the Gap sculptural work from precise and mechanical to freely modeled forms A Sense of Space installations, both site-specific and environmental The Line of Beauty collaborations between art and industry that result from advances in technology Contemporary Ceramics also includes biographies of the featured ceramists and a directory of museums and galleries.

The history of ceramics is rooted in the history of mankind. Jamaican Ceramics: A Historical and Contemporary Survey is a comprehensive examination of the development of ceramics from pre-history to the present day. This visually rich, exciting and authoritative book is an unprecedented survey which sheds light on the fascinating historical and modern contemporary Jamaican ceramics. Norma Rodney Harrack, herself a practicing ceramic artist, offers an expert's insight and provides a valuable resource to ceramists, students, collectors, enthusiasts and users of ceramics. The chapters each focus on key thematic areas - from early ceramic history to the influence of European ceramic practices to the syncreticism and continuity of African Jamaican pottery traditions - with full discussions on how the canon of Jamaican ceramics has developed over centuries. Harrack's many years of teaching and investigation have guided much of the primary research for this project.