Colin Pearson (1923-2007)
Colin Pearson 1923-2007
| Please click on the images below for details and pricing. Scroll down for artist information. | View Pages 1 2 3 Next » | Click here to go back |
Artist Information
Colin Pearson is best known for his wing design which he used for vases in a variety of styles. He was born in London in 1923 and studied at Goldsmith's College. He worked at Winchcombe before going to Lambeth in 1954 to work at the Royal Doulton Pottery.
The turning point of his career was in 1955 when he took over the running of Aylesford Pottery from David Leach who had set it up a year earlier at the Carmelite Friary in Aylesford, Kent. Leach left to set up Lowerdown Pottery in Devon, and Pearson took over as manager of Aylesford Pottery.
In 1961 he set up his own workshop, Quay Pottery, making domestic wares a hundred yards down the road from the Priory in Aylesford village.
He carried on at the Quay Pottery for a further ten years, during which time he taught at the Camberwell School of Art and the Medway School of Art.
His early work was mostly domestic stoneware, influenced by both medieval English pottery and that from the Far East. It was in the 1970's that his characteristic studio pieces began to emerge - the familiar 'winged' pieces were first exhibited at his 1971 British Craft Centre exhibition. These pieces which took ideas from ancient Chinese bronzes and Tang and Song dynasty ceramics, combined the techniques of throwing and construction in a manner previously unseen in the contemporary ceramics world.
In 1982 he moved to Islington, London where he set up a new studio. He spent the rest of his life in London, working until forced to stop by illness in 2003.
David Whiting's obituary in the Guardian newspaper described Pearson as "one of the most creatively charismatic of postwar British potters. Noted not only for his highly individual vessels, which broadened the language of the potter's wheel, he was also a masterly educator who imparted his love of clay and his extraordinary knowledge of the chemistry of ceramics to generations of students."
His work is held in all major collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum.