Alison Britton

About

Alison Britton’s forthcoming exhibition will show the distinguished ceramicist creating work with a new slant on her previous exhibitions. Table and wall pieces on a variety of scales will be included, as well as unexpected versions of her graspable handles. ‘Small’ appears more beautiful to her than before. Recent table-based pots have a horizontal reach, giving them a wide and embracing presence.

The interiors of this developing series are as important as the exterior and invite closer investigation. The artist compares her current approach, paying more attention to inner volume, to ‘seeing into a pond’. The theme of reflection is also echoed in her new wall pieces, where the viewer meets the work face to face, in these mirror- like oval/oblong forms.  She enjoys the painterly freedom that comes with the flatter relief surface, and has also been thinking about colours she hasn’t used for a while, such as blue.

In this new presentation from one of Britain’s most influential ceramic artists Alison Britton is still aiming to push the boundaries of her practice into new ground. Her distinctive forms and expressive surfaces continue to innovate and surprise.

Alison Britton is a leading British potter with an international reputation. A significant figure among the generation of innovative British ceramicists that emerged during the 1970s, her distinctive hand- built and expressively painted pots can be found in major public and private collections internationally including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. She trained at the Central School of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art, London, and is widely recognized for her work as a curator, writer and lecturer.

Britton was awarded an OBE in 1990 in recognition of her services to the applied arts, and she is a senior tutor at the Royal College of Art. In 2013 she published Seeing Things (Occasional Papers), a book of collected writings. In 2016 The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, held a major retrospective of Britton’s career.