Phil Rogers exhibition catalogue 2014 by Goldmark Gallery

PHIL ROGERS

goldmark

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PHIL ROGERS

Mihangel Morgan

GOLDMARK 2014

The Language of Phil Rogers’ Pots In his essay ‘A Potter of Our Time’ for the 2008 exhibition at Goldmark, Sebastian Blackie located Phil Rogers’ work within Anglo Orientalism. I would change that term slightly to say that Phil’s work rightly belongs to Cambro Orientalism. After all a Welsh potter is not exactly the same as an English potter any more than a Korean one is the same as a Japanese potter. Although Phil is not a fluent Welsh speaker I find that his work expresses and embodies certain Welsh words and feelings that are not easily conveyed in English. Without wishing to labour the Welsh point – a tendency in the Welsh which the English often find annoying – I feel this is an aspect in the character of his work which has been overlooked at the expense of a deeper understanding of the nature of his creativity. Having collected his pots over a period of many years now I have witnessed Phil’s amazing ability to reinvent and renew his forms time after time. The pots seem to grow like organic forms, like leaves, like trees, from his fingers, or to be sung like musical notes from the well of his apparently inexhaustible creative spirit. There are some mixed metaphors here but a Welsh word would put it all together: hwyl. The dictionary is no use in this instance; it simply gives ‘mood’ as the translation, but hwyl is the word used when a singer or musician or actor gives an unusually inspired performance. You can see this form of hwyl in the way that Phil’s great chargers seem to open out and unfurl, or in the

surge upwards, like a crescendo, in his tall vases or bottles and in the vigorous swashes in his use of finger wipe decorations. Hwyl also means fun – we bid one another hwyl fawr, ‘have fun’ when we part – and there is a distinct playfulness and spontaneity in Phil’s work. Clearly like Shoji Hamada, he enjoys experimenting and delights in changing his styles. Nothing stays the same. Phil Rogers shares this sense of hwyl with Hamada which takes pleasure in renewal and variation. It goes without saying that this fluency and freedom is the result of years of craftsmanship on the one hand in combination with the unique voice of the potter. The antithesis of hwyl would be the rows of white or black cylinders bunched together like cans on a shelf, given a gimmicky name or number and called ‘installations’. Phil’s pots are the embodiment of hwyl; hwyl in solid forms. Of course, at the same time as this exuberance there is in his work a serious quality, a depth which seems to reflect the gorgeous landscape around Cefnfaes in Powys. The roots of this feeling are deep; Phil’s great great grandfather worked in the same town. There is nothing contrived about this relationship between maker and habitat in Phil’s case. Rather it springs from a natural bond whereby the work inevitably echoes and answers the surroundings. Not that Phil’s pots look anything like hills, rivers, fields or the waterfall in the name Rhayader (Rhaeadr Gwy) but that the topography is somehow, through the alchemy

of clay, transformed into a quality that belongs to and can be felt in his work. This same quality can also be detected in the paintings and drawings of Phil’s great friend Kyffin Williams, to whose work Phil’s blocky, faceted forms, seem to bear a resemblance. Phil’s colours and glazes, in particular his use of tenmoku are imbued with this feeling which I can only call hiraeth. Usually translated as ‘longing’ hiraeth is a strange kind of homesickness which you can feel while you are at home, a kind of enjoyable sadness often found in songs and music. Not only is this condition innate in Phil’s pots but you can also feel hiraeth for one of them. A short anecdote to explain. One Saturday I had visited Phil’s workshop and among the pots I had noticed a small flat bottomed bowl the colour of golden baked bread and with a sheen reminiscent of honey. For some reason I left without the pot. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Overnight it seemed to call out to me and I felt a real hiraeth for that bowl. The next day, Sunday, feeling a little embarrassed at turning up again so soon, I returned to Cefnfaes (fortunately for me this is only a journey of some forty five minutes by car) and claimed the bowl. Since then I always allow the pots to speak to me and I listen to them. They invariably speak in cynghanedd. This is a poetical term for the particular type of bardic verse based on strict rules of alliteration and metre that takes years to master and which has

been used since at least the ninth century in Wales. But the core meaning of cynghanedd is harmony. And this sense of cynghanedd is to be found in all Phil’s pots, in their virtuosity and individuality, but also when his pots are grouped together, even with all their variety. The enormous vases and towering, slender bottles and the tiny lidded boxes and yunomi are all spoken, or should I say sung, in cynghanedd. Emmanuel Cooper in his wonderful biography of Lucie Rie tells a story which I love because it brings together three of the greatest potters. Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada were staying at Lucie Rie’s flat in London in the 1950s. They were discussing her pots in Japanese while she had left them together. When she returned Leach suggested they resumed speaking English for her sake, ‘to which Hamada, taking another look at the pots, replied that there was no need as Lucie understood Japanese’. This was Hamada’s special way of paying Lucie Rie the highest compliment. I began by saying that Phil Rogers was not a Welsh speaker and yet his pots speak Welsh to me, just as Lucie Rie’s pots spoke Japanese to Hamada. After all ceramics, like music, is an international language. MIHANGEL MORGAN Dr Morgan is a lecturer in folklore and 20th century literature at Aberystwyth University. He is one of the most innovative, original and famous Welsh language authors and has published seven novels, five volumes of short stories and four volumes of poetry.

page 8 103. Large Dish Ash glaze. Woodfired 9.5 x 43.0 cm page 11 6. Tall Bottle Straps. Tenmoku with finger wipes 45.0 x 27.0 cm page 13 31. Chawan Hakeme with incised pattern. Ash glaze 10.0 x 12.5 cm page 15 25. Very Large Bottle Incised decoration. Ash glaze 60.0 x 34.0 cm 117. Lidded Jar Ash glaze with Nuka pours 14.5 x 13.5 cm

18. Bottle Ridges. Ash glaze. Woodfired 40.5 x 28.0 cm

270. Bowl Hakeme with iron brush pattern 6.0 x 14.5 cm next page left 81. Flask Woodfired 15.5 x 19.0 cm next page right 76. Bottle Kington stone ash glaze. Woodfired 23.0 x 11.0 cm

26. Very Large Bottle Ridges & pellets. Kington stone & ash glazes 56.0 x 31.0 cm

93. Press Moulded Bottle Hakeme with incised pattern. Ash glaze 15.0 x 13.0 cm

253. Teapot Ash glaze. Woodfired 19.0 x 14.5 cm

280. Jug Pellets & combing. Tenmoku 25.0 x 20.0 cm

250. Set of Six Plates Hakeme 3.0 x 21.0 cm

92. Box Ash glaze. Woodfired 12.0 x 10.5 cm

227. Large Jar Ridges & stamped pattern. Ash glaze. Woodfired 34.0 x 29.5 cm next page left 125. Bottle Ash glaze on shoulder. Woodfired 36.0 x 18.0 cm next page right 19. Bottle Tenmoku with finger wipes 34.0 x 19.0 cm

40. Chawan Hakeme with dragon pattern 10.0 x 13.0 cm

94. Press Moulded Bottle Nuka with finger wipes 15.0 x 13.5 cm

90. Small Press Moulded Bottle Nuka with iron brush pattern 17.5 x 10.0 cm next page left 59. Yunomi Hakeme with incised pattern. Ash glaze 10.0 x 9.0 cm next page right 38. Chawan Kington stone & elm ash glazes 9.5 x 12.5 cm

Biography 1951 1969-70 1970 - 74 1973-77 1978 1981 1982 1984

1985

1986

1987 1988-90 1990 1991 1991 1993 1993 1994 1995

1995 1996 1997 1998

Born Newport, Gwent. Newport College of Art. Swansea College of Art. Swansea College of Education (S.A.T.D. University of Wales). Teacher of Art, Cambridgeshire. Moves back to Wales to open first workshop in Rhayader making oxidized stoneware. Builds gas-fired kiln. Research Grant, Arts Council of Wales. Moves to Cefnfaes Farm. Converts stone cow house into studio and stables into kiln shed. Builds 75 cu ft oil fired down draught kiln with the help of Arts Council of Wales Grant. Builds 45 cu ft catenary kiln for salt glazing. Elected a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association (C.P.A) of Great Britain. Begins a series of annual pottery summer schools that runs for sixteen years. Adjudicator, National Eisteddfod of Wales. Lecturer on B.A. and M.A. courses at North Staffordshire University. Elected to the Council of the C.P.A. First prizewinner, National Eisteddfod of Wales. Awarded Crafts Council grant for promotional material. Organizes a series of major exhibitions around the UK for the C.P.A. Elected Vice-Chair of the C.P.A. Elected a full member of Contemporary Applied Arts. Elected Chairman of the Crafts Potters Association of Great Britain. Visits Ethiopia for Project Ploughshare & to set up a women's pottery project in Gondar. Tours USA giving a series of lectures and demonstrations. Re-elected as Chairman of C.P.A. for a third term. Appointed to the Craft Board, Arts Council of Wales. Re-elected as Chair of C.P.A. for fourth term. Revisits Ethiopia to oversee continuing work on the woman's pottery project in Gondar. Workshop tour of USA (Dallas, Houston and Washington). Lectures on the history of British Studio Pottery in Athens. Gives week long workshop to Township people in Cape Town, South Africa. Demonstrates at Maltese Potters annual festival in Malta. Judge for ceramics competition at the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin. Teaches salt-glazing, kiln-building at Chungnan University, Taejon, S. Korea. Builds new 55 cu ft kiln for salt-glaze.

1999

2000 2001

2002 2003 2004

2005

2007

2008

Awarded scholarship (Harold Wingate Foundation) to build Korean wood fired climbing kiln. Invited for lecture tour to Canada and USA. Returns to Korea in March. Selected for Westerwald Prize Exhibition, Germany. Appointed a trustee of the Craft Potter's Charitable Trust. Guest demonstrator at the International Festival of Ceramics, Aberystwyth. Builds a salt kiln at Hood College, Maryland, USA. Prizewinner - National Eisteddfod of Wales. Workshop tour of the USA. Purchase Award, Orton Cone Box Show, Kansas, USA. Panelist at NCECA in Charlotte, USA. Shows at the World Ceramic Biennale and I.A.C. Exhibitions, S. Korea. Demonstrator at the Craft Potters Association of Ireland. Annual Ceramic Festival Workshops in the USA. Orton Cone Box Show, Kansas USA. 'Salzbrand' Exhibition, Hohr Grenzhausen, Germany. Tours Korea and Japan. Guest demonstrator at the National Functional workshop, Ohio, USA. Judge for the Orton Cone Box show, Kansas, USA. Re-elected to the Council of Management of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain. Completes two-chambered wood fired kiln. First potter elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy. Presents a workshop in Bavaria for Kalkspatz. Featured In TV documentary 'Creative Roads' for HTV. Present two workshops in the USA in January. Guest presenter at the Kelowna Clay Festival, British Columbia, Canada. Contributes to 'The Firing', a programme for BBC radio 4. Awarded ACW grant. Presents two further workshops in the USA. 'Phil Rogers - Potter' book published in the USA. Recipient of the major Creative Wales Award from the A.C.W. Becomes Vice Chair of the CPA for the second time. A new film by Charles Mapleston produced by the Goldmark Gallery entitled Phil Rogers - A Passion for Pots.

Solo Exhibitions 1978 1981-82 1982, 89, 92, 96 1982, 90 1982, 88 1984-90 1986, 89 1985, 86, 87, 89 1989 1990 1990 1992, 94, 96 1993, 95, 2000 1993, 95 1994, 96 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003

2004 2005 2005 2006

2007

2008

Quay Gallery, St. Ives. Century Gallery, Henley on Thames. Rufford Craft Centre. Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells. Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Oriel 31, Welshpool. Chestnut Gallery, Bourton on the Water. Contemporary Ceramics, London. Booth House Gallery, Holmfrith. Llantarman Grange Arts Center. Model House, Llantrisant. Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh. Harlequin Gallery. Hart Gallery. Nottingham. On Line Gallery. Southampton. 'Tho Art' Space Gallery, Seoul, Korea. Twenty Years a Potter, Harley Gallery. Bircham Gallery, Norfolk. Bettles Gallery, Hampshire. Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA. Harlequin Gallery, London. Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA. Contemporary Ceramics, London. 'Showcase', Contemporary Applied Arts, London. Oakwood Gallery, Nottingham. Harlequin Gallery, Greenwich, London. Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset. Pucker Gallery, Boston, USA. Candover Gallery, Arlesford. Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham,Rutland. Pucker Gallery, Boston, USA. Gallery St Ives, Tokyo, Japan. 'COLLECT', Victoria and Albert Museum. Pucker Gallery, Boston USA. Candover Gallery, Arlesford. The Gallery at Bevere, Worcester. Ceramic Art London, Royal College of Art. Aberystwyth Arts Centre. St Ives Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall. Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, Rutland.

2012 2013 2014

Book Launch Exhibition. Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, Rutland. Pucker Gallery, Boston USA. Leach Pottery Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall. Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, Rutland.

Work in Public and Private Collections ENGLAND Allen Gallery, Alton, Hampshire. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Birmingham City Museum. Buckinghamshire Museum, Aylesbury. City Museum, Stoke On Trent. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Leicester City Museum, Leicester. Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. York Museum, (Bill Ismay Collection), York.

ISRAEL Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa.

NETHERLANDS Jan van Houte Collection, Institut Pieter Brueghel, Veghel. Princessehof Museum, Leewarden.

SCOTLAND Aberdeen Museum and Art Gallery, Aberdeen. Paisley Museum of Art, Paisley.

SOUTH KOREA Ganjin Celedon Museum. World Ceramic Center, Icheon.

WALES Ceridigion, Powys and Monmouthshire County Councils. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Newport. Swansea City Museum, Glynn Vivien Art Gallery, Swansea. University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

CANADA Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario. Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

JAPAN Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko. Museum of Ceramic Art, Mino.

GERMANY Collection â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Adolf Egner, Frechen, Koln. Keramikmuseum, Hohr Grenzhausen. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munchen.

USA Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA. Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, AZ. Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA. Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.

Crocker Museum of Art, Sacremento, CA. Essex Peabody Museum, Harvard, Boston, MA. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN. Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN. Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM.

Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Sackler Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The Schein-Joseph Museum at Alfred University, NY. Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA.

Publications, Film, TV & Video Ash Glazes Ash Glazes Throwing Pots Salt Glazing Phil Rogers-New Pots 2005 Phil Rogers-Potter

Two Potters UK Festival of European Ceramics Art Talks Creative Roads The Firing Phil Rogers-A Passion for Pots A Portfolio Two Pioneer Potters in 1920’s Britain The Leach School - Contemporary British Potters

Phil Rogers, published A&C Black. 1992. Reprinted 1996. 2nd Revised Edition published 2003. Phil Rogers, published A&C Black. 1995. Reprinted 2000, 2001, 2005. Phil Rogers published A&C Black. 2002. Goldmark Gallery, essay by David Whiting. 2005. Pucker Gallery, essay by Andrew Maske. 2007. Numerous articles and essays for various magazines and catalogues. Phil Rogers and Mo Jupp. Video production by Invision Films. 1994. Video. 1992. with Mal Pope. HTV. 2002. A documentary film made for HTV Television. 2004 (prod. Gwenda Richards). For BBC Radio 4. A film by the Goldmark Gallery. Phil Rogers, published Goldmark, 2012. Catalogue Hamada Shoji’s perspective on Modernity, Published in Japan. A catalogue by the Museum of Contemporary Ceramics, Mashiko, Japan.

page 59 12. Teardrop Bottle Tenmoku with finger wipes 33.0 x 18.5 cm page 61 118. Lidded Jar Kington stone & ash glaze 15.0 x 14.0 cm opposite 85. Bottle Paddled. Ash glaze. Woodfired 19.0 x 16.0 cm front cover 68. Yunomi Hakeme with incised pattern. Ash glaze 10.5 x 10.0 cm back cover 91. Small Bottle Paddled. Ash glaze 10.5 x 10.0 cm

Text: ÂŠ Mihangel Morgan 2014 Photographs: ÂŠ Jay Goldmark Design: Porter / Goldmark ISBN 978-1-909167-14-8 Goldmark, Uppingham, Rutland, LE15 9SQ 01572 821424 goldmarkart.com