Bert the Potter: Curriculum Vitae 

Education

·         Current: Doctoral Research Associate. Cardiff School of Art & Design
·         Master of Research in Art & Design. Cardiff School of Art & Design. 2019. Distinction.
·         BA Hons Artist, Designer: Maker. Cardiff School of Art & Design. 2018. 1st Class.
·         Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. Arts Academy. Bridgend College. 2015. Distinction.

Artist Statement

I make artefacts that strive to draw people into the world of the sensory. Through the curation of form and surface my practice as a potter hopes to slow the viewer down, creating the space to refocus attention on the immediate and aesthetic currency of lived experience. Contemporary life is fraught with distraction and all too often overloaded with meaning. By making simple, natural pots I hope that I can return people to their bodies for a short while and allow them to appreciate the beauty and clarity of the material world. Whether in the form of a simple tea mug or a sculptural jar, all my work revolves around this central tenet.

My pots are predominantly wheel thrown in stoneware clays and textured and coloured with simple slips. All my work is fired in a reduction atmosphere in a gas kiln, facilitating the cool, earthy tones that I feel we need in the context of contemporary material culture. Gestural marks and material characteristics are celebrated in my making, adding to the depth and character of my counter culture aesthetic machines.

Anthropology, Phenomenology and Materiality drive my practice and are used to interrogate the nature of perception and its material roots within the context of contemporary craft. I strive for material fluency and finesse in all my works, in order to embody a level of material awareness that is, perhaps, lacking in society at large.

My unfolding Doctoral Research at Cardiff School of Art & Design is now focused on function; building on my existing research I am beginning to question what functionality looks like in the contemporary era and asking how function can be re-understood in the wake of modernism and through a return to a more expansive notion material and knowledge.

I make contemporary pottery for the home and the gallery, using traditional technologies combined with contemporary aesthetics. My pots are embodiments and discussions of my beliefs, and also serve to challenge the ever blurring boundaries between Art, Craft and Design as well as beauty and utility.

Current Occupation

·         Technician Demonstrator in Ceramics, Cardiff School of Art & Design
·         Doctoral Research Associate, Metatech Research Group, Cardiff School of Art & Design
·         Potter under brand name Bert the Potter: Batch production handmade tableware and one-off art pots for gallery settings.

Professional Activities

·         Commission and exhibition focused commercial pottery production under Bert the Potter.
·         Technician Demonstrator in Ceramics, Cardiff School of Art & Design

Academic Research

·         Ongoing - Doctoral Research: Re-establishing the Notion of Function for the Contemporary Potter. Cardiff School of Art & Design.
·         The Buddhist Foundations of Pottery: Developing a Contemporary Critical Theory. 2019. Master of Research Thesis, Distinction. Cardiff School of Art & Design.
·         On Throwing a Pot: A Post-Anthropocentric Account. 2018. Undergraduate Dissertation, 1st Class. Cardiff School of Art & Design.
·         The Gesture of Things: A Language of Making: A Phenomenological and Linguistic Account of Material Agency. 2017. Cardiff School of Art & Design.
·         Why Makers Need More Than Words: A Phenomenological Investigation into the Linguistic Mediation of Perception. 2016. Cardiff School of Art & Design.

Skills

·         Ceramic Fabrication: Wheel thrown and hand built vessels
·         Ceramic Glaze Technology: Reduction Fired Stoneware
·         Alternative Firing (Gas Firing, Wood Firing, Slat Glaze, Pit Firing and Raku Firing).
·         Art & Design Research and Consultation: Material Engagement Theory, Craft Theory, Embodiment of Mind, Anglo-Oriental Pottery, New-Materialism, Making.

Exhibitions

  • 2023 - Practice & Research: A Cardiff School of Art & Design PhD Showcase

  • 2023 - Cambridge Contemporary Art

  • 2023 - Ruthin Craft Centre: On Your Table

  • 2022 - Potfest Glynde Place

  • 2021 - Windsor Art in Clay

  • 2021 - Hatfield Art in Clay

  • 2019 - Hatfield Art in Clay.

  • 2018 - Hatfield Art in Clay.

  • 2018 - Cardiff School of Art & Design Undergraduate Artist, Designer: Maker Degree Show.

  • 2017 - Bridge Pottery Summer Exhibition.

  • 2017 - Bert the Potter Private Summer Exhibition and Sale.

  • 2017 - Cardiff School of Art & Design 2nd Year Artist, Designer: Maker Show.

  • 2016 - Bert the Potter Private Christmas Exhibition and Sale.