Tim Andrews
Tim has been working as a professional potter for well over forty years and for most of those years he has been immersed in the art and craft of making raku ceramics. I have been photographing Tim and his work for quite a while now and the aim of this book is to provide a visual essay about Tim, his making process, his studio, his environment, and of course his work. It is not intended as a ‘how to’ book about raku, which Tim has already successfully done, or as a biography, which I’m hoping he will do one day as he has so many great stories of his life to tell, but rather as a photo book. The photos and the small number of words are by me, and Tim has provided some personal and pithy quotes.
Nigel Dutt
“As a young journeyman potter I was desperate to acquire skills and techniques. I served my time as an apprentice, my ten thousand hours. However, I grew torealise that skills should enable and serve the art, not dictate to or stifle the artist. It’s a balance only achieved through a constant dialogue between conscious execution and intuitive expression - inside out art.That’s why I work with raku.The firing is a kind of feral dance which can capture moments that align the unconscious spirit with haptic knowledge. My objective is for the work to carry integrity and presence to make it worth taking up space in this cluttered world.".
The Studio
Tim has worked at his studio and gallery at Woodbury in East Devon since 1993.
“The building is old and was originally made from cob and probably thatched. In the late 18th century it is thought that a fire at the malthouse next door flashed across, largely destroying the building. Some of the thick cob walls remained standing and were retained and combined with locally made bricks for reconstruction in the early 1800s.
“Cob (also cobb); An ancient earth building technique using a combination of clayey subsoil, sand, straw and water - mixed together to form the walls of a building, rather like building a giant clay pot.. Cob is fire-proof, insulating and resistant to seismic activity.”
Making
“The transformation of raw materials – mud to art –is, for ceramicists, a fascinating journey of evolutionary transition, peppered with risk-taking step changes. My own work involves a continuously evolving discourse between the technical sophistication of processes, serendipity, and timeless human qualities.”
A mixture of two or three different clays is carefully prepared and the first stage of making starts with throwing or hand-building the raw clay body and moves on to shaping, turning, carving, slip application and burnishing. After drying, pieces are bisque-fired before an intricate glazing process prepares them for the raku firing.
Raku Firing
“There are, arguably, three types of potter: chemists, mudlarks and pyrotechnicians. I'm drawn to be the latter and I joke that it's kept me out of prison by curtailing my career as an arsonist.”
The pieces are fired up to 1,000 degrees or more and immediately placed, still glowing, into combustible material such as paper and sawdust.
Finishing
“The fortunate survivors of the individual firings still require a great deal of work. Sacrificial glazes need stripping. Residual coatings are soaked, carefully washed and dried. Stubborn soot is scrubbed. My studio sink is raised on blocks to save my back. Sometimes I think I'm really a cleaner who occasionally makes pots.”
During this last phase of making, the apparently messy and smoky pieces are transformed by scraping, scrubbing, cleaning and polishing into the finished art works.
The Work
“The best pieces are a harmonious partnership between the random and the contrived..
“After more than forty-five years as a maker, my pieces have become more minimal in style.Yet the simplicity and apparent ease and effortlessness is born out of a labour-intensive, unforgiving and demanding technique and a dramatic and intense firing process that rewards just enough to keep the artist’s addiction going and frustrates plenty enough to keep the artist’s ego at bay.
“Artists are often their own worst critics. Our work is never good enough.That can be both the frustration and the catalyst that drives us on. I hope and believe that I'm still to make my best pieces of work ever.”
Pots in the Garden
“The garden and land behind is an ancient burgage plot, traditionally measured in units of five and a half yards (known as a perch). I redesigned and built the garden some years ago to make a quiet, tranquil space. It's an ongoing project - a deep connection to and love of nature that informs and inspires my ceramics. ”
Tim has often displayed his work in the garden as part of his own gallery exhibitions.
The Japanese Connection
“In recent years many trips to Japan have allowed me to connect with much family history in that country, as well as deepening my understanding of the history of Raku.
“My grandfather was born in Japan and worked there for most of his life. I grew up surrounded by a number of objects that he'd brought back with him. This little table became known as 'the antlers', although it was made from a tree root.”
In true ‘coals to Newcastle’ style,Tim has held several successful and prestigious exhibitions in Japan.
clay dug, wire-cut, wedged
heft of the intangible
ma - the space between lean in - shadow, light
haiku by Irene Leake
“In Japan, ma literally means gap, space or pause. In western culture it is often understood as an aesthetic expression relating to 'negative space'. However, the term is infinitely more complex and nuanced.
“For me, ma is an awareness that the spatial relationships in my work can have a transformative presence and vitality.”
Tim Andrews is one of the foremost makers in his field today and is considered to be one of Britain’s leading potters.
There have been frequent exhibitions of his work in Japan, Australia, India,The United States, China, Korea, throughout Europe and the UK over the last forty-five years.Works have been acquired by many museums including the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Kanazawa Museum Japan, Liverpool Museum,The Fitzwilliiam Cambridge, Arizona State Museum,The Zhou Museum China, and Stoke on Trent Museum. Private collectors include Coutts Bank, St John’s College Oxford, Donna Karan, Imerys,The Met Office, Eric Clapton and many others.
Tim is also an exhibition curator, article writer and the author of two highly regarded books on Raku published by Bloomsbury. He is an elected Fellow of the Crafts Potters’ Association and Honorary President of the Westcountry Potters association.
Andy Christan - in the catalogue for Tim’s most recent show in Tokyo
“As a teenager in 1977 I attended a seminar and retrospective exhibition at theVictoria and Albert Museum to mark Bernard Leach’s 90th birthday. Some of the exhibited pieces resonated strongly with me - in particular I remember a stunning dark glazed bottle and a large charger decorated with the Tree of Life. At the seminar, Bernard, Michael Cardew and others spoke powerfully about their art, influences and life experience.The events confirmed in me that there was some substance to my interest in ceramics, that the creation of art was important, that at its best it was an expression and reflection of the ‘spirit’ of the artist and that it could and should come from a genuine place, one with which I identified although perhaps didn’t understand at the time. It was a dot-joining moment of revelation that this muddy material I was drawn to could, with passion, care and integrity, be transformed into objects that could smack you between the eyes.
“A year later I was fortunate to be offered an apprenticeship by Bernard Leach’s son David at Lowerdown Pottery in Devon. It was an intensive and demanding period of learning - but with one-to-one teaching, skills acquisition was rapid and in just a few months I had progressed from making the standard ware that was sold to summer visitors, to David’s fluted porcelain bowls and teapots that were exhibited in London and NewYork. The echo of David’s words‘...so are you any good today Andrews?’ still often seems to bounce around my studio.”
Following his studio apprenticeship,Tim spent a further two years at the Dartington Pottery Training Workshop before setting up his first small studio in Exeter with the aid of a grant awarded by the Crafts Council.
In 1983 he moved to South Tawton Pottery from where he ran International Summer Schools which attracted participants from all over the world.
After some years he returned to Lowerdown to share the studio with David Leach who was by then no longer taking students.
In 1993 he moved to his own house and workshop in Woodbury, East Devon, where he still works and stages exhibitions.
Tim also lectures, teaches very popular short courses, and gives demonstrations and master classes across the UK and abroad.
January 2025
This is the second edition of Tim’s book ‘Raku’, published by Bloomsbury.
“An essential guide to Raku covering its history, techniques, glazes, kilns, and firing methods – and exploring the work, inspiration and influences of some sixty-five leading artists from around the world.”
Approximate sizes in cms HxWxD
41 Lidded 'curling' piece - green crackle glaze - 24x14
42 Narrow resist bottle forms - dots and lines - 30x8 and 22x7
43 Tall resist bottle form - linear decoration - 50x14
44 Burnished 'humbug' form - verticallines - 13x20
45 Burnished ovoid form - lines and stripes - 22x16x12
46 Large conical form - linear decoration - 27x26
47 Angled burnished form - concentric circle pattern - 20x22
48 Round burnished lidded'sickle' piece - lines and b/w panels - 23x21
49 White burnished ovoid form - spotted with lines - 23x17x13
50 Tall pink burnished lidded form - random dots and lines - 43x16.5
51 Lidded gourd form - white crackle glaze - 24x13
52 Ellipticallidded box - red crackle glaze - 7x11.5
53 Two lidded 'curling' pieces - red glaze - 24x9.5 and 26x11
54 Burnished ovalform - random lines and spots - 37x25x16
55 Large conical burnishedform - herringbone pattern - 35x30
56 Oval bottle form - lines and dots - 38x22x13
57 Group of faceted forms - black and white and glazed average size - 22x6
58 Tall resist 'curling' piece - tectonic pattern - 24x15
59 Large spherical resist 'humbug' form - bands and stripes - 32x30
60l Large elliptical bottle form - glaze stripes - 29x34
60r Lidded 'curling' piece - wavy lines - 17x20
61 Narrow resist lidded cylindrical form - linear decoration - 32x8
62 Very large resist conical form - concentric circles - 81x42
63 Very large resist enclosed form - vertical lines - 82x40
64 Tall black burnished bottle form - 40x15
65 Ovoid black angled bottleform - burnished and textured - 39x27x22
66 Tall lidded 'Sancai' piece - matt and crackle glazes - 46x23
67 Very tall conical piece - crackle glaze - 67x29
69 Tall 'Sancai' bottle form - crackle glazes - 65x23
70 Burnished 'Jomon' bottle form with lugs - shape-changing decoration - 41x28
71 Lidded 'curling piece - green crackle glaze - 22x14
72 Resist lidded 'curling' piece - linear decoration - 17x20
73 Lidded 'curling' piece - Red crackle glaze - 19x22
75 Group of miniature pieces on Japanese table - various glazes
76 Rectangular form - matt ochre glaze - 45x25x16
77 Very tall ridged bottle form - matt glaze - 61x32
79 'Ma' collection - 7 pieces in a handmade cherry wood unit - 25x75x18
80 Detailof crackle glaze
81 Top of large ovoid form
82 Detail of 'Sancai' glazes
83 Top of glazed bottle form
84 Detailof matt glaze
85 Top of tall bottle form
