Ceramics by four artists each presenting a very different approach to working in clay.

MIKE GODDARD
NICI RUGGIERO
PAM SCHOMBERG
KATHLEEN STANDEN

Mike Goddard trained in ceramics at Harrow Art School, taught by Mick Casson and Wally Keeler. Harrow taught him the importance of domestic ware, the intricacies of the teapot and the visual importance of handles so that when all put together his pots beg to be held and used. A beautiful casserole on a table, enhanced by the smell of fifty cloves of garlic, chicken and herbs whets the appetite. His work is influenced both by a love of cooking and an early background as an architect. This drew him to establish a workshop in the Perigord-Noir, gastronomic centre of France, where he introduced his neighbours to the delights of curries cooked in his gas kiln!
He also has a workshop in the Caribbean, where he makes simple domestic ware, fish platters, rice bowls and rum cups. He is the first potter for 1800 years to work on this island, which was inhabited by Amerindian pottery makers from South America in 200 AD. Shards of their work constantly appear on the island's beaches. The tropical atmosphere destroys wood and metal but not clay. Inspired by the decorative ceremonial boats of the Caribbean, their frailty and the difficulty of sailing them, and the abandoned boats that have become rusting hulks, he makes ceramic boats enhanced by architectural features, decorated with scrolls, finials, brackets and sconses. He has even managed to get rust to grow on clay.
Mike's workshop in England is a delightful stable in the apple orchards of Kent, where he puts together ideas that have come to him in France or the West Indies: platters decorated with sunflowers and rice bowls with flying fish. When he closes and locks the stable door he travels east to France or, if there’s snow on the ground, west to the warm beaches of the Caribbean!

A sense of presence, intrigue and ambiguity infuses Nici Ruggiero's work. Using a mix of primitive hand building methods, ancient Japanese firing techniques and contemporary western resist skills, she creates a rich palette of tones and textures.
Sensuous, sometimes collapsing, organic forms contrast with the assertive shapes of newer pieces. These are evocative of vases and bowls, yet have closed and sometimes completely flat tops, eliminating any functional use. They promise solidity but are, in fact, completely hollow. Vivid splashes of coloured glass add a further element of surprise.
Combining the old with the new, the primitive and the contemporary in an ongoing process of experimentation, Nici Ruggiero's work arouses curiosity, invites interaction, and often creates a pleasurable feeling of uncertainty.
Nici Ruggiero is delighted to be one of a handful of UK artists to have an image selected for a new publication ‘500 Raku’, from Lark Crafts, due for release in March in the US and May 2011 in the UK. It showcases spectacular images of outstanding contemporary raku work made by both up-and-coming international ceramists alongside well established makers. Jim Romberg, who is one of the leading practitioners and teachers of raku in the world, writes an informative introduction referencing the sixteenth century origins of raku, as well as the contemporary ceramist’s “engagement of a natural process".

Our relationship with the changing environment is the overall theme behind Kathleen Standen's work. The economic demands of the fishing industry and the recent surge in coastal house building, has impacted coastal ecosystems. Kathleen's ceramics seek to explore these changing influences.
Researched by 'industrial beach combing', whether in the fishing villages of West Cork or by the River Thames in London, and taking inspiration from machinery used in these locations, both current and redundant, such as buoys, winches and pulleys, her forms emerge from moulds via carving and breaking. The eroded and disintegrating surfaces, together with the colours and glazes, emulate the forces of nature on the environment. Some forms have porcelain vessels which are placed on their 'plinths' as if by chance.
The porcelain clay is made from raw materials, creating the colour and texture for each piece of work. Organic matter is also added which burns out in firing, resulting in an eroded and fragile surface. On some forms press-mouldings made of paper clay are attached, which shrink and warp when fired, adding to the sense of disintegration.

As a child Pam Schomberg was fascinated by the ancient artifacts in the local museum and continues to find the craft of past cultures colouring her style and influencing the development of her work.
She also spent time with her late father while he worked as a bespoke tailor (as did many generations before him) and this has led to a sympathy with texture and pattern and a textile like way of building in clay.
She has worked as a potter since leaving art school in 1985 at the age of 38. There have been obstacles, like running a successful Crafts Council approved Gallery above her studio for 15 years and being a mum (for ever) but she has always obstinately carried on making and closed the gallery to concentrate on her work.
Having exhibited and sold widely over the years and through lectures and mentoring for the SDC her work has proved influential to other young potters.
Each piece is individually hand built in porcelain, stoneware, or a combination of both. She makes marks and impresses pattern into rolled out slabs of clay, with made or found tools, the pot is then built with sections from these slabs and fired. Colour is included at all stages, with the use of oxides, slips, glazes (dolomite or barium) and on-glaze lustres. Many are fired 3, 4 or sometimes 5 times.
Over the past 25 years her work has been included in many exhibitions throughout GB and abroad; a collection bought by Liberty’s, London: exhibitions in Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh: Cecelia Coleman Gallery, St. Johns Wood: The Crypt-St Paul’s, the Barbican and shown in France, Germany and the USA, with a large collection of ‘coffee and tea sets’ ordered for Saudi Arabia.