Events
An Illustrated Talk by Halima Cassell MBE, FRSS
Tuesday, 8th November 2022, 6.00 – 8.00pm
We are pleased to announce our upcoming Evening Event in association with the Joanna Bird Foundation: an illustrated talk by artist and sculptor Halima Cassell MBE, FRSS. Known for her dynamic geometric motifs, which she carves into clay and later fires or casts, Halima’s work is largely inspired by her Pakistani heritage, her fascination with African patterns, and her knowledge of Islamic architectural principles. Join us for the exciting opportunity to hear Halima speak about her work and process.
Work by Halima is on view as part of our autumn exhibition, Point of Balance, in our Chiswick gallery and on our website.
For more information, call us on 020-8995-9960 or email info@joannabird.com
All talks begin at 6.30pm. Canapés and wine will be served.
Entry donations welcome.
Exhibitions
Point of Balance
12th October – 16th December 2022
JOANNA BIRD is delighted to present its Autumn Exhibition, Point of Balance. The Exhibition will run from 12th October – 16th December. Our Chiswick gallery open viewing days are Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00am – 5.00pm; other days by appointment. Please email info@joannabird.com or call us on 020-8995-9960 to schedule an appointment with Joanna.
Events
Artists Karen Bunting and Francis Lloyd-Jones in conversation with Joanna
13th July 2022, Wednesday 6.00 – 8.00pm
We are pleased to announce our upcoming Evening Event in association with the Joanna Bird Foundation, with artists Francis Lloyd-Jones and Karen Bunting in conversation with Joanna. Join us for a rare opportunity to hear son of potter David Lloyd-Jones speak about his beautiful soda glazing in the company of Karen, who has know him for many years
Work by Karen and Franics is on view as part of our summer exhibition, The Sunlight on the Garden, in our Chiswick gallery and on our website.
For more information, call us on 020-8995-9960 or email info@joannabird.com
Events
Work by BA Graduates in Stone Carving from City & Guilds London Art School
We are delighted to be presenting work by Morgan Edwards, Steffan Lomax and Imogen Long – BA Graduates in Stone Carving from City & Guilds London Art School as part of our summer exhibition, The Sunlight on the Garden, from Tuesday 5th July.
Please join us for a welcoming Evening Event, in association with the Joanna Bird Foundation, on Wednesday 6th July, 6.00 – 8.00pm. The graduates will be attending and there will be a Q&A session at 7.00pm. Please RSVP if you would like to attend. All donations for the Joanna Bird Foundation are welcomed.
Exhibitions
Steffen Dam’s solo exhibition – Come Fly with Me
13 May – 30 December 2022, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark
We are pleased to share our artist, Steffen Dam’s new solo exhibition, ‘Come Fly with Me’, is now open at the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark from 13 May – 30 December 2022. Steffen has created a beautiful airship that takes us through the screen to his wizard’s view of the world.
Exhibitions
COLLECT – the SELECT
At our Chiswick Gallery, we have reimagined our COLLECT 2022 display at Somerset House by restaging the work of several of our celebrated artists in a more domestic setting.
‘COLLECT – the SELECT’ comprises ceramics, glass, bronze, lacquer, photography, and much more, and will run from 16th March until 12th April 2022 (Mondays to Thursdays from 10am to 5pm, and all other days by appointment), with an after-party on the final day from 12pm to 8pm. Please RSVP to attend via info@joannabird.com or +44 (0) 20 8995 9960.
Exhibiting artists include Silvia Aguirre, Svend Bayer, Dawn Bendick, Hélène Binet, Karen Bunting, Michael Cardew, Halima Cassell, Vittorio Costantini, Steffen Dam, Pippin Drysdale, Elizabeth Fritsch, Akiko Hirai, Edward Hughes, David Leach, Hattori Makiko, Jim Malone, Geoffrey Mann, William de Morgan, Nason Moretti, James Oughtibridge, Tanja Pak, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, Lucie Rie, Rupert Spira, Miranda Thomas, Matthew Warner, Gregory Warren Wilson, Philip Wood, and Yali Glass.
#COLLECTtheSELECT
Events
Dawn Bendick Shortlisted for Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2022
We would like to congratulate Dawn Bendick who has been shortlisted for the esteemed Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2022, in partnership with the Crafts Council.
Dawn is an artist working with time, light and multitone dichroic glass. Her work is inspired by natural light and our intuitive ability to track time without technology. Originally from the US, she is currently based in the UK.
As part of the prestigious award, Brookfield Properties acquires the winning artist’s work for the Crafts Council Collection and the artist is given a solo exhibition in a Brookfield Properties space.
Events
Material is the Heart of it
Tuesday 14th December, 6.00 – 8.00pm, at the Chiswick Gallery. This event is held in association with the Joanna Bird Foundation.
Please join us for our last talk of 2021 with Kate Windibank and Nina Bilbey, ‘Material is the Heart of it’. This will be a special discussion between two artists working in different materials, but finding commonality in thinking and approach.
Ceramicist Kate Windibank is inspired by concepts of geological formation, erosion and the transformational nature of time.
Stone carver Nina Bilbey comes from family of Master Craftsmen. Her work respects the nature and practical limitations of her chosen material, stone.
RSVP is essential. Mulled wine and light refreshments will be served.
We do not charge for these evening events, however a donation to the Joanna Bird Foundation is always much appreciated.
Exhibitions, Foundation
Richard Batterham, Master Potter
“This fine documentary is a deep dive into one man’s world of making, and the philosophy behind a life in pottery. The sense of accumulation – of time, of clay, of conviction – is palpable in every shot. We also hear from the magnificent David Attenborough and master chef Nigel Slater (who begins every day with his Batterham breakfast bowl). Their voices remind us that often, the most meaningful things in life are rooted in the everyday, indeed, in the dirt beneath our feet.”
– Glenn Adamson. Senior Research Scholar, Yale Centre of British Art
Joanna Bird is honoured to present Richard Batterham, Master Potter, a film made by the Joanna Bird Foundation with filmmaker Alex J. Wright, featuring Sir David Attenborough and Nigel Slater. An edited version will be on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Richard Batterham: Studio Potter Exhibition opening Friday, 26th November 2021 – September 2022 in Room 146.
The life and work of Richard Batterham (1936-2021) is monumental within the world of studio ceramics. Joanna celebrates her friendship with Richard which spanned 40 years through the sharing of his life’s work. Richard remains an inspiration for us all.
For more information, please visit the V&A webite.
And more more information about the Joanna Bird Foundation, or to purchase a full length DVD of the film, please click the button below.
Events
Round and Around
Wednesday 1st December 2021, 6.00pm, at the Chiswick Gallery. In association with the Joanna Bird Foundation.
We are delighted to host a talk by Chris Keenan as part of our evening events for Jeu d’esprit, our winter exhibition this year.
Chris began his career as an actor before becoming Edmund de Waal’s first apprentice in 1995 and has worked from his London studio since 1998. His work is often glazed using deceptively simple combinations of tenmoku and deep celadon, to great effect. The V&A, London, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan have all acquired his work.
We do not charge for these evening events, however a donation to the Joanna Bird Foundation is always much appreciated.
We look forward to welcoming you to the gallery.
Press
Art Worker’s Guild
We are happy to announce that Joanna Bird is now a member of the Art Worker’s Guild.
Established in 1884, the Art Worker’s Guild is a body of more than 350 artists, craftspeople, designers and architects working at the highest levels of excellence in their professions. It represent over 60 creative disciplines ranging from glass-engraving, wallpaper design to film-making. The group’s main charitable aim is to support the visual arts and crafts in any way that may be beneficial to the community.
For more information on the charitable organization, please click here.
Foundation
Richard Batterham, Tribute
Richard Batterham
1936 – 2021
______________
Richard passed away peacefully at his home in Dorset on 8th September.
Please see below a tribute to this extraordinary man by Joanna.
A handful of wet clay – he had but to touch it
And it was gold
The Metamorphoses, Ovid
The contribution made by Richard Batterham’s life and work is monumental within the world of studio ceramics. He was destined to become a potter from an early age, having studied with Don Potter at Bryanston School. After two years of National Service he then worked at the Leach pottery where he met Hamada Atsuya (Hamada Shoji’s third son) who he always spoke very warmly of. One of the other students at that time was Dinah Dunn, and they married in 1959.
In the same year, they bought the pottery in Durweston, Dorset, and Richard produced a biscuit firing from his first kiln aged twenty-three. The Batterhams lived in a caravan for seven years while the workshop and house were being redesigned and reconstructed by James Leask. In 1966 they moved into the house, and the following year the oil and wood-fired kiln became fully operational.
Richard’s work is to be found in museums world-wide and in countless private collections. He had two important exhibitions in 1972 and 1984 at the Crafts Centre, London, and a retrospective at Contemporary Applied Arts in 2016. He also exhibited internationally, in Sweden and in Germany.
I first met Richard in the 1970s when I visited him after having worked and studied with Michael Cardew. I had hoped that I might work for him, to gain further experience. I was impressed by Richard; he was a seriously committed potter and I much admired the pots that he made. After some friendly chat, I asked if I could work for him for a few months. “Oh no,” he said, “I do it all on my own.” And that was how it remained for the rest of his life, apart from occasional help from Thiébault Chagué and Reuben, his youngest son. True to himself, Richard’s integrity is embodied in everything he made.
His love of clay was immediately apparent – mixing the clay body to his complete satisfaction. Repetition throwing on the wheel was an extension of that creativity which refreshed and fulfilled him throughout his life. He made it all look so simple, as any Master Craftsman does.
Refining forms, slips and glazes, introducing a cobalt blue brush mark on a rim, or chatter marks inside a bowl – all these meticulous details were carefully considered, and anything new would go back to his own house to be closely observed, and used. Consistency in his technique was of paramount importance to him, as were the small differences in form and decoration that evolved, and so pleased him. Richard’s pots have that quality which makes us want to go back to them time and time again – they quietly speak to us. Each functional piece that he made is a joy to use, perfectly formed and finessed.
Richard had his own ideas on many subjects. For example, how people get involved with pots – by using them – and thus to his mind meeting him half-way by appreciating them. He was a profound thinker, and listened as attentively. The joy he derived from making, the love that went into his work and his keen interest in people all contributed to his philosophy of human behaviour, and his pots also represent this breadth of interests.
He kept his “acorns” in the “Holy of Holies.” We would laugh about that, and go and have a look from time to time and as he picked up a pot his smile broadened. He loved re-connecting with his earlier work. Exhibitions for him were an opportunity to take stock of the best of his work to date – from that point he could then move on and keep improving. It never occurred to him to stamp his work – why would he need to? His pots could not have been made by anyone else.
Time spent talking to Richard was always rewarding and illuminating, and his friendship was warm and compassionate. He deeply admired Michael Cardew, and kept abreast of what was going on in the pottery world – without moving from Durweston. I visited him regularly over forty years – to see him, to discuss many aspects of pottery and to choose pots for the next London exhibition that I was curating. (I often took with me, as a gift, his favourites – oxtail stew and plum crumble.)
It took me years to persuade him that it would be a good idea to make a film about him and his life’s work. “Who on earth would want to watch it?” he asked. The film that the Joanna Bird Foundation made with Alex J. Wright was finally released in 2017 and in the event he was very pleased with it.
I often heard him say to me – “Well, you just have to get on with it, don’t you!”
Richard remains an inspiration for us all. He was a true friend and an impressive character; self-assured through self-reliance and self-belief, yet warm in his heartfelt approach to life.
Of all the giants I have known, he was the gentlest.
There will be an exhibition,“Richard Batterham Studio Potter,” at the V&A from 26th November 2021 – September 2022 in Room 146. The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication later in the year. Richard would have wanted his work to inspire forthcoming generations of potters.
Press
Joanna Bird’s The Garden of Earthly Delights as featured in The World of Interiors Magazine September 2021
Press
Joanna Bird’s The Garden of Earthly Delights as featured in Huon Mallalieu’s column in Country Life Magazine July 2021
Events
Two Original Voices: Karen Bunting and Carina Ciscato
Wednesday 11th August, 6.00pm, at the Chiswick Gallery. This event is held in association with the Joanna Bird Foundation.
Joanna Bird will discuss with Karen Bunting and Carina Ciscato their individual practices, their ideas on form and the role of decoration in their work.
Mainly self-taught, Karen Bunting makes functional pottery, working in reduction fired stoneware. Each piece is first thrown or hand-built, then individually worked and decorated with stripes, spots and cross-hatching to enhance aspects of each form. The reduction firing generates muted colours, often marked out with darker lines of patterning, producing a stillness and sobriety which Karen has expressed as a quality she is drawn to.
Working primarily in porcelain, Carina Ciscato is a Brazilian potter based in London (since 1999). She creates pots with a natural sense of balance through the process of throwing, de-constructing and re-assembling. The sense of fluidity in her work is further heightened through her masterful application of quiet and muted tones of body and glazes.
Events
Akiko Hirai and Jason Collingwood in conversation with Joanna Bird
Wednesday 28th July, 6.30pm, at the Chiswick Gallery. In association with the Joanna Bird Foundation.
Akiko Hirai and Jason Collingwood discuss their respective work and how their different practices interact.
Akiko makes practical ware using the Japanese tradition of allowing the clay to show how it wants to be fired itself. Focusing on the interaction between the objects and the viewers, her work enables the viewer to find out the language of the objects in their own way. Her work and unique approach to ceramic work have had much high praise and her work is becoming more in demand from her commissions worldwide.
With over 30 years experience as a professional rug weaver Jason has produced thousands of rugs for hundreds of international private and corporate clients. Working closely with architects, interior designers and fashion houses, Jason Collingwood designs and weaves all the rugs himself. In addition to the weaving Jason passes on his skills by teaching extensively in North America, Europe and Australia.
Events
Adam Buick in conversation with Joanna Bird
Events
Designing with Plants The Great Dixter Way
Wednesday 14th July, 6.00pm and 7.30pm, at the Chiswick Gallery. In association with the Joanna Bird Foundation and the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.
Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener at Great Dixter, has generously offered a selection of specialist plants, which have been planted in the Gallery’s beautiful garden. Tools, hurdles and benches from Great Dixter will also be exhibited; these are made entirely from wood grown in the surrounding woodlands. We are pleased to announce that on July 14th Fergus will be presenting two lectures at the Joanna Bird Gallery, entitled ‘Designing with Plants the Great Dixter Way’. The first at 6:00 p.m. and the second at 7.30 p.m.
Wine and light refreshments will be served.
All proceeds go to the Joanna Bird Foundation and the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.
