The City Space at The Arc, Winchester, is currently stocked from stem to base with beautiful pottery. Numerous platters, figures, vases and various other forms in different colours and clays make up the Ceramicus 2025 exhibition, a show of great ceramic accomplishment. In this article, we take a closer look at the exhibition and the artists behind the wares and works on display.
Who are Ceramicus?
The group consists of eleven potters exhibiting and selling work together. Leah Brand, Mike Bush, William England, Christiane Hayles, Nigel Hobbs, Simon Hunt, Veronica Jeans, Tim Pilsbury, Shirley Shiner, Alexandra Barto and Judith Anderson make up the exhibitors.
These potters inflect their pots and processes with nuances based upon their different inspirations drawn from great depths of experience. Be it the natural world, famed potters or a fascination with certain techniques, their divergent interests ensure they veer down differing explorative routes, each as fascinating as the next.
In the production of pots, vessels and figures, the artists play with surface finishes, structures and materials, creating a visually striking display. Raku, porcelain and stoneware, amidst other types of pottery, are transformed with various flourishes and adaptation. One potter may decorate with horse hair, while another might look purely to the incidental ornamental effects of wheel throwing. But what they all hold in common is an overarching quality. The depths of colours and surface finishes achieved and the dynamism of compositions and the interest they elicit are inescapable.
A history of the group
Ceramicus has its origins in Farnham, a town famed for its pottery. In the '70s, '80s and '90s, evening classes with great potters like Katerina Evangelidou and Duncan Ross took place at the local art college and later in repurposed pottery buildings. But it was under the tutelage of Evangelidou, who had introduced innovative techniques such as raku to the group, that Ceramicus began to take shape. Evangelidou, a widely exhibited artist herself, suggested to some of those who frequented her classes that they exhibit together. This group, as they were potters and friends, decided they should be called ‘Ceramicus’. Their first exhibition was held in 2010 in the Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester. Their second in 2011 was in City Space in what was then called the Discovery Centre, now The Arc, in Winchester. They have held annual exhibitions ever since, in various venues including Haslemere Museum, the Pottery in Wrecclesham and, eventually, their now regular favourite The Allen Gallery in Alton. The group are currently exhibiting on the City Space mezzanine at The Arc, Winchester.
Ceramicus 2025
Mid-way through their first stay at City Space, the group are a firm favourite amongst visitors and staff alike. Predictably, pots have been flying off the shelves almost faster than they can come out of the kilns.
The team at The Arc have also enjoyed the handling and sorting aspects of invigilating the show. Here is what Ashton Blake, a visitor experience assistant at The Arc, Winchester had to say, ‘the exhibition is one of my recent favourites because of all the distinct styles on display, but the pieces in the show that speak to me the most are by Christiane Hayles’.
The Ceramicus 2025 exhibition runs until Sunday 23 March.
All works are available to purchase.
