Kettle’s Yard
I have a long-standing love for Jim and Helen Ede’s beautiful Kettle’s Yard home, and its stimulating collection of artworks and found objects.
Replacement fluted bowl
I was commissioned to make a replacement of a fluted bowl (36cm) that sat on the bookshelves in the library area. It was made by an unknown maker in Spain or the South of France in the late 19th century from earthenware with a tin glaze. Working from the broken shards of the original, and following measurements and material tests, I hand-threw and carved a replacement.
Kettle’s Yard Collection
I make an exclusive collection of hand-thrown stoneware for the Kettle’s Yard shop. The range is inspired by my frequent visits to Jim Ede’s beautiful home, and references some of its familiar motifs and hidden treasures. Some pieces are one-offs while others are repeated with subtle variations. Examples include:
Lemon: references the fresh lemon on the pewter platter in the dining room, which itself echoes the yellow dot in Joan Miró’s Tic Tic painting nearby.
Vein: inspired by some of the pebbles which Jim so carefully selected and arranged.
Collage: utilises a torn paper technique employed by a number of artists on display.
Radar: responds to Ovidiu Maitec’s Radar II, displayed in the extension, and the gridded holes of the weathered broomhead Jim Ede placed in his sitting room.
David Parr House
David Parr was a working-class decorative artist living in Cambridge from 1886. He worked all over the country on painted schemes by George Frederick Bodley and William Morris, amongst others. Over 40 years, he painstakingly decorated the interior of his own terraced home, covering walls and ceilings with intricate hand-painted patterns in the arts and crafts style.
The “In Sight of Heaven” platter was made for House Guests: Contemporary Art in David Parr House, Words to Live By; Words to Live With. Under the theme of Letter, Word & Text, this exhibition invited artists, designers and makers to personally and creatively respond to David Parr’s use of lettering in his domestic decorative schemes.
Inspired by the gothic frieze Parr painted in the small front bedroom of his home, I created a large serving plate (46cm) as a canvas on which to formally explore cropping and manipulating the text to give a sense of dynamism and transmission across generations. Placed in Elsie’s kitchen, it symbolised food presented for sharing and savouring together.
House Guests
David Parr House Collection
I make a series of ceramics in response to the wonderful David Parr House. Pieces available from the David Parr House shop (184-186 Gwydir St, Cambridge CB1 2LW) and online.
