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KYRA CANE

When you choose to invest in an object you also share in the choices that have resulted in its production. For some this will involve design and manufacturing processes, but for me, creating pots is inextricably linked with making things using my own two hands.

 

In a world where most work relies on collaborative activities, it is extraordinary to be responsible for producing a finished object from beginning to end; simultaneously a great pleasure which is always tinged with the fear of failure.

 

The materials I use are complex and of the highest quality: porcelain clay, stain, oxides, glaze, paper, paint, ink, crayons, pastels, graphite and charcoal. But the tools and equipment I use are strong and basic, throwing wheels, ribs, wires, scales, bins, buckets, boards, brushes and kilns.

 

With these I throw, turn, mark, colour, glaze and fire the pots that I make and then recycle

the remnants of my precious clay which has been thousands of years in its making.

 

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POTTER

Qualifications:

           BA (Hons) 1st Class Ceramics,

           Camberwell School of Art.

           Postgraduate Art Teachers’ Certificate

           Goldsmiths College, London.

 

Exhibitions:

2020   Common Ground , Craft Study Centre,

           Farnham.

2019   Brushed : Gallery Top , Rowsley, Derbyshire.

2019   Yixing, China : selected exhibition

2019   Ceramic Art London

2018   Ceramic Art London

2018   Brook Street Gallery, Hay on Wye

2017   Ceramics Biennale

2017   Earth and Fire Ceramic Fair

2017   Ceramic Art London

2016   Ceramic Art London

2016   Bevere Gallery, Worcestershire.

2015   National Glass Centre, Sunderland.

2015   Lowe-Holland Gallery, Penryn, Cornwall.

2015   Ceramic Art London.

2014   Out of Sight – Drawing in the lives of Makers

           Contemporary Applied Arts, London.

2014   Ceramic Art London.

2013   ‘White Out’

           Contemporary Applied Arts, London.

2013   ‘Making and Drawing’,

           Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire.

2013   Collect – Saatchi Gallery, London.

2013   Stroud International Textile Festival.

2012   Contemporary Applied Arts, London.

2012   Material Matters – Rag factory London E1.

2012   Tradition and Innovation:

           five decades of Harrow Ceramics.

           Contemporary Applied Arts, London

2010   ‘Lustre’, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham.

2009   Ceramic Art  London.

2007   Firing Thoughts. Manchester.

2007   Collect: V&A.

2006   Institute of Fine Arts,  Beijing, China.

2006   Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London.

2006   Ceramic Art London.

2005   Carlin Gallery, Paris.

2005   Art London, Sarah Myerscough.

2005   Ceramic Art London.

2004   'Graft' Harley Foundation Studio Show

           Harley Gallery, Welbeck. Nottinghamshire.

2004   MACBA Barcelona (Museum of

           Contemporary Art) Arts Council Show.

2004   Totally Teabowls.

           Oakwood Gallery. Nottinghamshire.

2004   'Bloomers'

           Contemporary Ceramics Gallery. London.

2004   Firbob and Peacock. Knutsford. Cheshire.

2004   Affordable Art Fair. London

           (John Noott Gallery).

2003    John Noott Galleries, Broadway Modern,

           Gloucestershire.

2003   Wessex Fine Arts and Ceramics, Dorset.

2003   New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham.

2002   Christmas Show.

           Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk.

2002   SOFA  Chicago (White Gallery).

2002   Grange Barn Galleries. Group Show.

2001   SOFA  Chicago (White Gallery).

2001   ‘Painterly Pots’  

           Brewery Arts Centre. Cirencester.

2000   Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.

1999   Christmas Show.

           The Gallery Upstairs. Henley in Arden

1998   Summer Show.

           The Gallery Upstairs. Henley in Arden.

1997   Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.

1997   Rufford Craft Centre,

           Nottinghamshire Major Group Show .

1995   Studio Ceramics '94',

           Victoria and Albert Museum, U.K.

1991   'Decorative Ceramics', Rufford Craft Centre.

1991   Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.

1990   Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.

1989   Chelsea Crafts Fair, London.

1989   'New Faces'  

           Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

1989   'Harrow Connection'  Touring Show:

           Northern Contemporary Arts Centre

           Crafts Council, London.

1988   Cecilia Colman Gallery.

1988   'Shape and Surface' Touring Show:

           Gainsborough’s House, Suffolk

           Peterborough Museum

           Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

 

Solo Exhibitions:

2019   Twenty Twenty Gallery, Ludlow.

2018   From Light to Dark Contemporary Ceramics

           Centre, London.

2016   Bircham Gallery, Norfolk

2014   ‘A life of Making and Drawing’

           Millenium Gallery, Sheffield.

2008   Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire.

2002   White Gallery, Brighton.  

2001   Hart Gallery, London.

1999   Bettles Gallery, Hampshire.

1995   Galerie ‘L’ Hamburg, Germany.

1995   Hart Gallery, London.

1994   'Pour When Inclined'

           Canvas Galler, London.

1993   'Pots and Paintings', Traquair, Scotland.

1990   Montpellier Gallery, Cheltenham.

1989   'New Work' Sue Williams Gallery,

           Portobello Road, London.

1987   'Pots and Paintings',

           Field Gallery, Nottingham.

1985   Paintings and Pots

           Midland Group, Nottingham.

 

Commissions:

2019   Installation piece for Spectrum Cruise Liner

 

2017   Indescon Hotel London

 

2016   Installation piece for Oceania Cruise Liner

2013   Pots for Shangri La Hotel,

           The Shard, London.

2005   Large vessels for P&O Cruise Liner

           (ARCADIA).

1995   Presentation Piece for Queen Elizabeth

           on the opening of the Queens Building

           at University of Westminster.

 

Collections :                                        

           Centre of Ceramic Art York

           Rufford Ceramic Collection

 

Curatorial Work:

2019   Brushed : Gallery Top , Rowsley, Derbyshire.

2014   Out of Sight – Drawing in the lives of Makers

           Contemporary Applied Arts, London.

2013   Making and Drawing            

           Harley Gallery. Welbeck. Nottinghamshire.

           www.harleygallery.co.uk.

           This exhibition revealed the secret lives of

           artists and makers; showing their private

           drawings alongside the finished works that

           they inspire, inform or create.

2003  Ceramic Contemporaries 4

           Chair of the NACHE (the National

           Association of Ceramics in Higher Education)

           exhibition committee.

           Co-organised, produced and curated this

           nationally touring show which provided an

           overview of contemporary practice selected

           by a jury of four nationally and

           internationally renowned artists, critics and

           curators. (Edmund de Waal, Andrew Lord,

           Keeley Traae and Moira Vincentelli).

           Royal College of Art, London; Harley Gallery;

           Wrexham Art Gallery; Collins Gallery,

           Glasgow; Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

 

Writings:

2012   MAKING AND DRAWING –

           published by Bloomsbury.

           Various reviews for Ceramic Review and

           catalogue prefaces 2003 – 2013.

 

Grants and Awards:

2010    Major Arts Council Award.

2005    Arts Council – Small Grant Award,  

            Ceramic Art London.

2000    Residency at Rufford Ceramic Centre.

1997    East Midland Arts Award.

1989    East Midland Arts Grant for Publicity and

            assistance in attending Chelsea Crafts Fair

            for the first time.

1987    Crafts Council Setting up Grant.

 

Current Positions:

            Chair of the Trustee Board of the Craft

            Pottery Charitable Trust    

 

Employment:

2017 onwards

            Visiting Tutor: West Dean College of

            Arts and Conservation, Sussex.

2017 -

2019    Visiting Artist at the Flying High Academy,

            Bilsthorpe

            Visiting Artist at Godolphin School, Salisbury.

2013 –

2017    External Examiner for BA Hons Ceramics,

            Limerick School of Art and Design

2011 -

2016    External Examiner for BA Hons 3D Design,

            University of the Creative Arts2001 –

2009    Course Leader BA (Hons) Ceramics.

            Harrow Campus University of Westminster.

2007    External Examiner: University of Glasgow.

2006    External Examiner: Royal College of Art.

1993 –

1994    Derby University

            Part time Ceramics  Lecturer,

            BA Hons  Applied Arts.

1990 –

2001    Harrow Campus University of Westminster

            Half time (.5) Lecturer, BA (Hons) Ceramics.

1986 –

2000    Lecturer in Ceramics and Drawing.

1987 –

1997    West Nottinghamshire College of Further

            Education Part - time Lecturer, Foundation

            and GAD / GNVQ Art and Design courses.

1987 –

1988    Bretton Hall  College,  West Yorkshire

            Part -Time Lecturer in Ceramics.

1986 –

1990   West Nottinghamshire College of Further

            Education Part time lecturer in Ceramics.

            Adult Education.

1986 –

1990    Harrow College of Higher Education

            Part time lecturer with responsibility

            for drawing. Ceramics HND Course.

1986 –

1989    Goldsmiths  College. Visiting Lecturer.

 

Professional Societies:

            Fellow of the Craft Potters Association

            of Great Britain.

            Chair: NACHE (National Association for

            Ceramics in Higher Education).

            Chair of the Ceramic Contemporaries 4

            NACHE Exhibition  Committee.

            Selected member of Contemporary

            Applied Arts.

 

Catalogues:

            Essay by Emmanuel  Cooper -  

            ‘Parallel Lines’ - September 2008.

            Short text by Edmund  de Waal for

            Catalogue 2005.

            Essay by Edmund de Waal -

            ‘The pleasurable activity of the journey’  

            The ceramics of Kyra Cane.            

            Short Essay by Emmanuel Cooper for the

            Hart Gallery Show 1995.

            Essay by John Houston -

            'Pour when Inclined' 1994.

 

Articles, Inclusion in Books and Critical Reviews:

            Contemporary Ceramics -

            Emmanuel Cooper  2009.

            The Ceramics Design Course -

            Anthony Quinn 2008.

            Sources of Inspiration: For Ceramics and

            the Applied Arts.  

            Carolyn Genders 2004.

            Article - Ceramic Review Jan/ Feb 2001.

            Article - Neue Keramik (German Publication)

            May - June 1996 Page 150.

            Studio Pottery Dec / Jan 1994/95.

            Magazine Nov/ Dec 1994. Pages 53 and 54.

CURRICULUM VITAE
ARTIST STATEMENT

The guises of clay are varied and extraordinary however my continuous interest in vessels means that pots are my great love. They link one to a history of making objects, from the china painted bowl I found and treasured as a child and the early Persian bowls with simple patterns that I admire, to the battered metal containers that hang on my studio wall. They are part of a consistent thread of influences which include paintings, and an appreciation of that which is made by hand.

 

I use a wheel because the immediacy of ones response to actions demands undivided attention, the speed at which decisions are made remains a constant challenge and the soft fluid process of turning a solid lump of clay into a voluminous fine walled structure never fails to excite me.

 

At every stage of making I try to capture something of the freedom I find in throwing.
I choose Limoges Porcelain for its colour when both raw and fired,  and its strength in
the heat of the kiln. Making for me is also about working with risk, surfaces react to the slightest touch, traces of hand and tool remain, bowls move and twist, materials melt
and fuse.

 

I wrap bold, ostensibly black marks, around the porcelain forms, animating  and defining spaces; brushmarks fade and blur, inky opaque bands change to pale fresh air blues with occasional flashes of yellow. There are remnants in these vessels of the vast landscapes which have always been my inspiration.

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