If you were to pray to the god of clay, you would eventually need to make a pilgrimage to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I won't claim to be the most traveled, learned, or experienced ceramic person, but...I am pretty sure this is the mother load of ceramic art.
The collection is mostly on the top floor of the museum and it is truly immense; still, it is displayed in a friendly and accessible way. I was taken with the thorough discussion of the history of conservation, production, and even chemistry of clay and glaze. Their website does a great job of explaining what is going on -- Victoria and Albert Museum . Here are my pictures from a good 6 hours of wandering and muttering to myself in awe:
The V&A has an artist in residence program. Here is Phoebe Cummings at work behind glass and in the midst of ceramics from 3500 BC to present day. V&A Artist In Residence
They even have pottery classes!
I was particularly fond of this display of Lucie Rie's studio:
A display of Walter Keeler's pottery construction:
More pieces that jump out at me today:
I was set adrift in a sea of pots...
Looking back, this collection was overwhelming and I think it would take a few days to actually see everything. Another pilgrimage must be made one day! Until then the Victoria and Albert website will have to do.
3 comments:
overwhelming...no doubt. It was good seeing the pics once again and good to see new posts on ye olde blgge...will talk soon.
OMG...I just lost my mind a little bit there. nice blog! fab post!
Thanks! I have to pinch myself to believe such a place exists...
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