Steve Harrison
The Loft Pots: Firing, Selection and Contemplation
Blue Projects presents a solo exhibition of work by ceramic artist Steve Harrison. The installation brings together a remarkable selection of never before seen ceramic works made over a 20-year period, alongside more recent pots, furniture, and a film.
Made between 2000–2019, The Loft Pots constitutes a unique body of work that was previously kept by Harrison as part of his personal archive. Shown together here for the first time, the works are presented as a ‘fantasy firing’ in homage to all the previous kilns Harrison has built and offer a momentous overview of a 20-year investigation into form and function. The works resound with individual significance and reveal how early developments have inspired consecutive firings, as well as pointing to emergent ideas and lines of enquiry that are yet to be explored.
Harrison’s meticulously crafted ceramics are made using ancient pottery techniques such as throwing and press moulding stoneware and porcelain clay. To glaze the pots, he introduces salt into the kiln at high temperatures to produce the distinct orange-peel like texture his work is known for. The outcome relies on an interaction between the skill of the potter, the kiln itself and being able to work in varying conditions, which can affect a firing. For Harrison, the process is endlessly fascinating and challenging, yielding results that are often unpredictable and creating discrepancies across his output.
The viewer is invited to consider the works as part of a broader context. A lacquered table built from English Chestnut by the artist and his friend, Ben Casson, and a single chair provide a site to contemplate the works, alongside a film made with his long-time collaborator, photographer Richard Cannon. Entitled Orange Peel, the film documents the firing process in Harrison’s studio in Wales and offers a window into the source of his inspiration and contemplations on his art.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue that documents the Loft Pots.
Publication
Designed with 40 coloured plates concealed within perforated edges that can be revealed using a paper-knife, this fully illustrated catalogue offers a detailed overview of the individual pieces comprising Harrison’s personal archive of never before seen ceramic works. Each copy includes a bookmark with a text about Orange Peel — a film made by Harrison together with his friend and collaborator, photographer Richard Cannon. Printed by Push Print, 235 × 170 mm, 92 pages.
Available from Blue Mountain School £50
Notes on the Exhibition
Room 1
I often talk about the idea of an empty room with just a table and one chair. A space to contemplate a pot without distraction.
Not long after Mick’s death, I shared a poignant moment with his son Ben Casson, when I found out that his Dad had shared a similar vision. How extraordinary that Ben has helped me convert this notion into a reality.
Room 2
Like the simplest of stage sets, my ‘Impressionist Kiln’ is a symbol of all the previous kilns I have built. I am not trying to replicate a single firing, but want to create something I have not seen before, using pots from my personal archive to present a totally fictional proposition, a fantasy firing.
This display consists of pots that I felt were too personal and too spectacular to be shared with anyone. No sooner were they revealed by the opening of my kiln than they were hidden away. Over time, these pots have become known as the “loft pots”.
The fantasy kiln places my current work in a historical context; a 20-year exploration into form and function. Subtle developments in my work become dramatic changes when there is more than a decade between one piece and another.
There are two entire chronologies from 2000-2019. 40 pots in total. 20 cups and 20 individual pieces. A narrative created by the want of a single pot rather than a collection.
Room 3
When we first started working together, I said to Richard that it’s about the ‘doing of things and not the outcome’. The film, Orange Peel, is a testament to this philosophy; to have a predetermined goal or idea interferes with creativity.
These rooms are not inspired by preconceived ideas. They offer a unique experience – an open door for the mind. Each process is divided, recreating the solitary activity of firing, selection and contemplation, something I hope everyone who visits can share.
Steve Harrison (b. 1967, Wallsend, UK) lives and works in London and Wales. Harrison graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Ceramics in 1993. Selected solo exhibitions include Tea House, Tea at the Table, Pots, The Potter’s Pots and Big in Japan at Arts & Science, Tokyo (2009, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019); and Cup Board at Globe-trotter, London (2015). Harrison has collaborated with the Lion Salt Works Trust in 2000 and with Globe-Trotter in 2018, alongside an exhibition of his work entitled Steve Harrison: Travelling with Tea – From the Pit to the Palace. Harrison is the recipient of the Queensbury Hunt Tableware award in 1991 and the Acme Malls award for work in the V&A’s Ceramics Contemporaries exhibition in 1996, as well as the Craft Council award, which enabled him to set up his workshop in Enfield and his salt kiln in Wales. Until 2009, Harrison was a visiting lecturer in ceramics at The University of Manchester, University of Kent and Camberwell College of the Arts, London.
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