Colin Pearson’s
80th birthday is a welcome opportunity to celebrate one of the
great heroes of modern European ceramics – someone whose
work has become one of the defining images of British studio pottery.
This is quite simply because Colin has created his own – highly
innovative – language, an approach which combines a complex
reading of history with his own formal resourcefulness. He readily
admits to a low boredom threshold, so not for him a long life of
domestic ware. In the 1960‘s he moved on – using the
wheel in a quite radical way, developing a loose very gestural
mode of throwing that gave fresh prominence and expression to the
constitution of clay.
Then, in the wings and attachments that began to emerge in the
early seventies, he created a new kind of counter-motion, adding
both equilibrium and an extra dynamic to his freely conceived
cylinders. In so doing he not only introduced a new constructive
intervention in wheel-based work, but created a quite different
sculptural object, still part of the cord of tradition, but expanding
the parameters of ceramic form. These objects have proliferated
in shape, from crisp translucent porcelain of great delicacy
to monumental stonewares – big bowls and flatter relief
structures to tall energetic jugs with spiralling handles. The
bolder the pieces the bolder the glazing too, greatly varied
in colour and texture, but always accentuating the body and fabric
of the pot. And Pearson is a superb miniaturist, his particular
clarity of definition effective on a small and intimate scale
too.
Colin Pearson is held in great esteem and affection. Despite
the toll of recent illness his wicked humour is still thankfully
intact – integral to a rare generosity of spirit experienced
by generations of students and, indeed, all those who have come
into contact with him. We salute not only his achievement as
artist and teacher, but also that warm abiding humanity. So thank
you Colin – and a very happy birthday!
DAVID WHITING
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