Martin Smith (potter)

Last updated
Professor Martin Smith
Born1950
UK
Nationality United Kingdom
Alma mater Bristol Polytechnic

Martin Smith (born 1950) is professor of ceramics and glass at the Royal College of Art in London.

Professor academic title at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries

Professor is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences, a teacher of the highest rank.

Royal College of Art college in Kensington and Chelsea, UK

The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. The only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the world, it offers postgraduate degrees in art and design to students from over 60 countries. As of 2019, the RCA has placed first in the QS World University Rankings in the Art and Design subject area for five consecutive years, since the introduction of subject area rankings in 2014.

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Work and career

He was born in Essex, England [1] and was educated at Bristol Polytechnic (1971–74) and the Royal College of Art (1971–77), where he studied the technique of raku. He worked from a studio in Suffolk, later moving to London.

Raku ware

Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of chawan tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low firing temperatures, lead glazes and the removal of pieces from the kiln while still glowing hot. In the traditional Japanese process, the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air. The familiar technique of placing the ware in a container filled with combustible material is not a traditional Raku practice.

Suffolk County of England

Suffolk is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and Felixstowe, one of the largest container ports in Europe.

Smith's early works were large raku bowls which were precise and geometric, departing from the tradition of Japanese raku. [1] From the 1980s he has formed his ceramics by press moulding or throwing red earthenware clay which is subsequently altered by cutting and grinding. [1] He adds metal and gold leaf to the interiors of his pieces and sometimes adds slate or sheet metal to the base. "Smith's work is far removed from the spontaneity, plasticity and softness associated with clay; his is tough, hard edged, planned, measured and architectonic." [1]

Earthenware ceramic crockery and dishes

Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below 1200 °C. Porcelain, bone china, and stoneware, all fired at high enough temperatures to vitrify, are the main other important types of pottery.

A key figure in British ceramics, [2] [3] he taught at Loughborough College of Art & Design (1983–85) and Camberwell College of Art (1986–89). He joined the staff of the Royal College of Art in 1989 and was appointed professor of ceramics and glass in 1999. [4]

Exhibit form

Smith is one of a group of potters, including Elizabeth Fritsch, Alison Britton, Ewen Henderson, Gordon Baldwin and Richard Slee who make a small number of sculptural pieces that they tend to exhibit on plinths [5]

Elizabeth Fritsch MA(RCA) CBE is a British studio potter who was born into a Welsh family on the Shropshire border. Her innovative hand built and painted pots are often influenced by music, painting, literature and architecture.

Alison Claire Britton OBE is a British ceramic artist, with an international reputation, known for her large sculptural, slab built vessels.

Ewen Henderson (artist) British artist

James Ewen Henderson was an English ceramic artist.

Collections

His ceramics are represented in public collections including those of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Stedelijk Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of New York. A major retrospective exhibition was held at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam in 1996. [1]

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Art museum in Japan

The Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Japan, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Encyclopedic, Art museum in Los Angeles, United States

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits.

Rotterdam Municipality in South Holland, Netherlands

Rotterdam is the second-largest city after Amsterdam and municipality of the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, at the mouth of the Nieuwe Maas channel leading into the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta at the North Sea. Its history goes back to 1270, when a dam was constructed in the Rotte, after which people settled around it for safety. In 1340, Rotterdam was granted city rights by the Count of Holland.

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References

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