John Maltby

cover: #1 Ancient King42.5 cm tallright: #2 King and Raven36 cm tall

John Maltby

Solo Exhibition, July 2012

The Oxford Ceramics Gallery29 Walton St.

OxfordOX2 6AA

‘This is the day of the Artist Craftsman, not of the Journey-man potter. That means that any young person taking up a craft today, as a vocation, only justifies him/her self by finding something to voice or say i.e. his life or true character extended into his work. We want from the potter the same sort of good quality which we expect from the Author, Poet, Painter or Composer.’

Bernard Leach wrote this over 50 years ago. But I was trained in a rather more typical, contemporary situation than the ‘Journeyman Potter’ – the art school. My interests were catered for in a variety of areas and the increased possibility of travel and communications meant that I was seeing paintings and sculpture and particularly music at first hand.

The Workshop traditions – a kind of Anglo-Orientalism, established by Bernard Leach at St Ives, seemed attractive for a while – the skills of making: throwing and glazing, firing and decorating became my work. However, in my travels I had seem recently made ceramics by Picasso and, among others, I particular-ly admired the paintings of Dubuffet and Paul Klee: The repetitive skills of the workshop seemed to expose the monotony within this vigorous system, and the tyranny of such a life-style seemed ever-increasingly numbing!

I’ve now been making clay sculptures for more than fifteen years: they aim to dig more deeply into my past experience and to more directly connect to the ‘Englishness’ which is my heritage: I would like there to be a seamlessness between this inherited past and my contemporary situation.

Anglo Orientalism has long gone, as has an obsession with ‘skill’ rather than ‘heart’. That which remains – the world that I know and love – I try to find a lit-tle place for in the work that I do.

John Maltby, June 10th 2012

#4 Royal Boat29 cm tall

#3 Bird and Helm30.5 cm tall

#5 King and Boat26.5 cm tall

#13 Knight and Tiger18 cm tall

#9 Angel and Pillar29 cm tall

#27 Angel31 cm tall

#8 Family and Boat28 x 22 cm

#16 Man, Bird, Fish39 cm tall

#20 Boat Family23 x 25.5 cm

‘The modern potter is a child of our time, and there is no creative place for a nostalgic longing for a past era, or a culture which we might admire but with which we have no identity. We must make pots which take into account con-temporary developments - but must beware of confusing such developments with progress.’

John Maltby, Ceramic Review, 1990

#23 Idol32.5 cm tall

#12 Bird And Fish32.5 cm tall

#24 Knight & Tiger16 cm tall

#15 Lidded Box13 cm tall

#17 Fishermen and Boat29.5 cm tall

#30 Bird Box13 cm tall

#2 King and Raven36 cm tall

#10 Angel and Wall33 cm tall

#6 Bird and Fish30 cm tall

#14 King and Horse15.5 cm tall

#7 Ancient King32 cm tall

#32 Cup Form, c199014 cm tall

‘I have been told that most of my ceramics lean slightly, either in form or in pattern, or both. This is not a conscious intention, but perhaps part of that sub-liminal consciousness which I have tried to describe and which pervades our natures. (I remeber, as a small boy, leaning into the fierce winds of the East Coast, where I was born).’

John Maltby, Ceramic Review, 1990

#31 Footed Dish with Bird, c19906.5 x 25 x 23 cm

#29 Mother and Child22.5 cm tall

#38 Casket, c200418 x 18 cm

#19 Mother and Baby28 cm tall

#18 King and Bird27 cm tall

#21 King and Raven34 cm tall

#36 Large Bowl, c198037 x 14 cm

#35 Dish, Switzerland Scene, c198826 x 26 x 4 cm

#28 Angel (Iken)22 cm tall

#22 Casket (angel)14.5 cm tall

#34 Oblong Dish, c199018 x 10.5 x 4 cm

#33 Footed Dish, c199018 x 17 x 4 cm

‘Decoration exists at the first touch of the maker’s hand. The enlivenment of the surface is pursued both consciously and subcionsciously by hand and tool, by choice of clay and glaze, by the anticipated result of fire. Decoration is, therefore, no more or less important than form; it is inevitable.’

John Maltby, Ceramic Review, 1982

#39 Tile, c200317 x 17 cm

#26 Two Boats35 x 40 cm

#25 King, Queen and Landscape35 x 40 cm

#40 Box with Japanese Enamels, c19805 x 6 cm

#37 Flagon with Boats and Moon, c199018 cm tall

#11 Angel on Wall32 cm tall

John Maltby was born in Lincolnshire in 1936. He studied sculpture at Goldsmith’s College, London and went on to teach painting for a couple fo years. He went to work with David Leach in Devon from 1962 to 1964, before setting up his own pottery at Stoneshill, Devon. He has been at Stoneshill ever since, intitially making mostly domestic ceramics but then changing to making more one off contemporary pieces. John has exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and US.

Examples of John’s work can be found in many collections including:

Victoria & Albert Museum LondonCrafts Council LondonContemporary Art SocietyUniversity of WalesInternational Museum of Ceramics Faenza, ItalyBelfast MuseumExeter MuseumNational Museum of ScotlandGlasgow Museums & Art Galleries

© The Oxford Ceramics Gallery and John Maltby, 2012Photography ©2012, James FordhamDesign and Layout by Rachel Ackland

‘I hope my pots are, warts and all, like me.’John Maltby, Ceramic Review, 1986

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