James Campbell was born in Cawdor and was brought up on the shores of the Moray Firth and in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Having trained as a potter, James Campbell had by the mid 1970s become part of the movement towards sculptural ceramics, in which Gordon Baldwin, who taught him at school, was a central figure. Slab built constructions of buildings, simplified representations of fortified habitations, romantic reflections on landscape.
During a period in the early 1980s when he had no access to a workshop, he drew a great deal; landscape, architecture, people and birds. A move to a new house had the very practical result of reintroducing him to the domestic vessel. He moved from making the smaller domestic pieces to larger platters and bowls, and as a natural result of the time he had spent drawing, he applied his draughtsmanship and colour to this work.
“I make pots. They are hand built, individual pieces, usually slabbed and coiled, using a red clay from Staffordshire, masked with a white slip. After the first firing I paint on the surface with oxide pigments and underglaze colours, using imagery based on the special places of my childhood, remembered, observed, and still longed for. I was fortunate to be brought up in the North of Scotland and West Wales, two landscapes of great lyrical beauty, which have been a dominant influence, particularly the wild and windswept coastline of South Pembrokeshire. I try to combine form with image, in such a way that they meet as equal partners, in an object with domestic and poetic overtones." Sadly James Campbell passed away in 2019.
Public collections include: Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Manchester City Art Gallery. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Tokoname Institute of Ceramic Art, Japan. Aberdeen Art Gallery. Dundee Art Gallery. National Library of Wales. National Museum and Gallery of Wales
Earthenware. 45cm wide by 6cm high
Please enquire
Earthenware. 45cm wide by 6cm high
Not for sale