Richard Batterham pottery

Richard Batterham

Acclaimed as the foremost living maker of domestic stoneware in the world, Richard is very sadly not now able to throw more pots. However, throughout his long career, he has put aside pots in a private collection which he used for his own reference and as a record of his work. Some he chose because they marked a significant development that he wanted to replicate and others because they were ideal versions of a form. With the help of his son, the potter Reuben Batterham, Richard has decided to release a good number of these pots, some from his final firings and some dating back as far as the 1960s.

We are delighted to announce a selling exhibition:

Richard Batterham: pots from the artist’s own private collection

Saturday 7 March until Sunday 26 April 2020 (or as long as stocks last)

The pots will be available to view in person from 12 noon on Saturday 7 March. If you would like an email notification when the pots become available to view online, which will be during the following week, please let us know on gallery@sladersyard.co.uk

We also have copies of the booklet:

Richard Batterham at 80 has been reprinted!

Richard Batterham at 80 by Anna Powell is back in print for the exhibition at £10 plus £1.50 p&p. 36 page, 14.85 x 21 cm full colour paperback booklet.

Written after long interviews and many conversations with Richard Batterham, and approved by him, it tells the story of his working life with advice he would want to pass on to young potters and photographs of his pots, his workshop and of Richard at work.

Born 1936, Richard Batterham became interested in pottery at a very young age at Bryanston School, where an interest in craft and design was greatly encouraged. He learnt under the guidance of Donald Potter, who was a student of Eric Gill and had also worked with Michael Cardew at Winchcombe. After National Service, Batterham worked for two years under Bernard Leach at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall.  There he and his future wife, Dinah Dunn, met Atsuya Hamada, a son of Shoji Hamada.  ‘I think we got a lot from him,’ Batterham says, ‘about how to handle clay. We were very lucky.’

In 1959 they left to set up their own pottery at Durweston outside Blandford.  In 1967 Batterham moved into a new pottery workshop in Durweston and built a four-chambered oil and wood-fired kiln.  In 1978 with the help of the French potter Thiébaut Chagué, he also built a small salt glaze kiln.

Still in the same pottery, he has always worked alone doing all the processes himself from digging the clay to labelling the pots.  His pots are often referred to as being in  in the Leach tradition, although he feels more in tune with the attitudes of Michael Cardew. His pots are made to enrich life rather than to adorn it. A superb craftsman, his colours are soft celadon blues and greens through to caramel (Manganese), browns and blacks with the nature of his glazes varying from thin and bright to thicker softer glazes. His forms are functional – simple, satisfying and beautiful. Some pots, he says, ‘call out to me that they are really good ones’ and these are the pots we have always been delighted to show.

Describing his own pots, Richard Batterham refers to some of them as ’soft’ or ‘kind’, emphasising their human quality. ‘Michael Cardew used to say form was everything, and form is very important, but I tend to feel that it’s how the clay is handled that really makes a difference. I like to make something you can hold. If someone really hugs onto a pot, that’s lovely and just how it should be.’ Brushing away his own pre-eminence, he says, ‘You just get into the right frame of mind and get on with it.’

Richard Batterham’s work is in numerous museums, including the Tate and the V&A, as well as in private collections all over the world. Sladers Yard is proud to have held  major annual selling exhibitions of his work since 2009.

The pots shown below are from Richard Batterham’s last full firing (apart from 803 and 811 which were fired earlier in the summer). Richard’s son Reuben fired these pots with him.  Please note that they are all now SOLD.

The pots in the new exhibition will be available to view in person from 12 noon on Saturday 7 March. If you would like an email notification when the pots become available to view online, which will be during the following week, please let us know on gallery@sladersyard.co.uk

 

• 

  RB803 Large Cut Lily Jar 34cm h £550

• 

  RB803 Large Cut Lily Jar 34cm h £550

• 

  RB811 Rimmed Tazza Manganese 13h x 19cm dia £440

• 

  RB811 Rimmed Tazza Manganese 13h x 19cm dia £440

• 

  RB901 Large Cut Teapot 18 x 24cm £165

• 

  RB901 Large Cut Teapot 18 x 24cm £165

• 

  RB904 Medium Cut Teapot 13 x 21 cm £145

• 

  RB904 Medium Cut Teapot 13 x 21 cm £145

• 

  RB912 Small Cut Teapot 13 x 19cm £121

• 

  RB912 Small Cut Teapot 13 x 19cm £121

• 

  RB918 Small Cut Teapot 13 x 19cm £121

• 

  RB918 Small Cut Teapot 13 x 19cm £121

• 

  RB922 Butter Dish 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RB922 Butter Dish 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RESERVED RB923 Butter Dish 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RB924 Butter Dish 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RB925 Butter Dish star on lid 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RB925 Butter Dish star on lid 9 x 12 cm £99

• 

  RB927 Coffee Tazza 10 x 14 cm £88

• 

  RB927 Coffee Tazza 10 x 14 cm £88

• 

  RB927 Coffee Tazza 10 x 14 cm £88

• 

  RB928 – 937 Small Yog bowls 8 x 17.5 cm £45 (some without chatters) 928, 929, 930 & 934 available

• 

  RB928 – 937 Small Yog bowls 8 x 17.5 cm £45 928, 929, 930 & 934 available