Tony Laverick
I established my own studio in 1988. I had previously studied ceramics before working in the ceramic industry in Stoke on Trent (including as a designer for Coalport China, part of Wedgwood). My background in the industry has given me a broad appreciation of ceramics and techniques. I am interested in the art ware produced by Royal Doulton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but I am also fascinated by the work of French potters such as Clement Massier. However, I am equally appreciative of the work of Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian, Nicholson, Brancusi and Rodchenko. They have all been an influence on me as have the designs of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. While drawing on these sources and various cultures, I also have my own original vision. I have developed my own glazes and techniques over many years of experimentation and am still excited by the results of the combination of human judgement and technique. I am always willing to take risks with my work to see where it takes me. It is, in my opinion, this quality which distinguishes the artist from the craftsman. I am a Fellow member of the Craft Potters Association and a selected member of Contemporary Applied Arts.
My work explores the juxtaposition of the certainty of line and the ambiguity of more painterly surfaces with sensitively applied textures. They create an illusion of movement, stillness and space.
I would describe my work as definitely and defiantly decorative. When I first began making ceramics, I would think of the word “decorative” as somewhat derogatory but what I have come to realise with age and experience is that I no longer carry the baggage of wanting my work to be “meaningful” to anyone but myself. I do not mean that in an arrogant sense but rather that I can now just enjoy making my work without hindrance and luckily other people like it too!
Something I am regularly asked is where I get my ideas from and what inspires me. I find it a difficult question to answer as I don’t consciously think about it as part of my work. I feel that I work intuitively without the need to specifically plan out how I am going to decorate a piece. However, whilst looking back at some of the international events I have taken part in, I came across photos I took of the Tokyo International Forum. I was there in 2014 to take part in the Tokyo Art Fair represented by Gallery St Ives, a Japanese Gallery specialising in British Studio Ceramics.
conscious manner. I didn’t come home thinking that I must make designs based on the photos I had taken. Instead I think it’s a process all artists share. We absorb things we see around us and it is stored as a memory. But these images can sometimes appear years later having been filtered through other life experiences. So they become a more personal interpretation and not an attempted copy.
The building was designed by Rafael Vinoly and I remember being so overwhelmed by this fantastic, powerful building. I took lots of photos and was enthralled by the complex lines and shapes of the structure. It was only seeing these photos from 2014 that I realised how much these elements had informed the work I made years later This hadn’t been done in a
I never dictate a definite “story” with my work. It is abstract, not representational. I do not disclose the subject or influence to the viewer as I prefer that they interpret it in their own way. For the same reason, I do not give titles to my pieces so that it doesn’t limit the viewer’s own imagination.
Both form and decoration are
important to me. But, it is the form that will dictate how I decorate the piece. Ultimately, if the form is not right, the finished piece will never be, for me, a “good” pot no matter how well decorated the surface is.
Ceramic collector David Bland says of Tony Laverick “Tony’s commitment to good design is apparent in every pot he makes. We may notice it first in the way he decorates, our eyes drawn to his sumptuous colours or those flashes of gold, but for him it begins with the basic form. As Tony himself says -If the form is not right, the finished pot will never be, for me, a good pot. There should be harmony and balance. All the decoration in the world won’t save a poor underlying shape.” David Bland
When I am engaged in creating the surface
decoration of my pots, I am fully caught up in the medium and the process. I have learned over time, not to think about the end result. It is the time spent engaged in the creative activity that is most important to me. I enjoy the “detached” feeling I get. It is like a dance with my hands and my eyes. They take turns in taking the lead!
Stockists Marine House Gallery, Beer, Devon Cheshire Art Gallery, Bramhall, Cheshire Morningside Gallery, Edinburgh
Iona House Gallery, Woodstock Contemporary Ceramics, London Montpellier Gallery, Stratford on Avon Primavera Gallery, Cambridge The Wykeham Gallery, Stockbridge Marine House Gallery, Beer, Devon Avi Gallery, Friday Harbour, Ontario, Canada Wingates Gallery, Market Harborough
Old Courthouse Gallery, Ambleside Blackmore Gallery, Lymm, Cheshire Cheshire Online Ceramics www.onlineceramics.com
Collections Ashmolean Museum City of Stoke on Trent Museum Gmunden Museum, Austria Museum Internationale della Ceramica, Faenza, Italy Maison de la Ceramique, Samedet, France Adolph Egner Private Collection Deutches Keramikmuseum Dusseldorf Publications Ceramic Review Feature Issue Mar/Apr 2024 Ceramic Review Feature Issue 293 Sept/Oct 2018 Nue Keramiek Issue 4/2016 Klei Magazine Cover and Feature March 18 Featured in World of Interiors April 2015 Ceramic Review Feature Issue 205 La Revue de Ceramique et Verre Issue 139 The Basics of Throwing Dave Cohen (A&C Black) Lustre Greg Daly (A&C Black) Troubleshooting for Potters Jaqui Atkin
For information on events and stockists,
please see my website: www.tonylaverick.co.uk E-mail: tonylaverick@btinternet.com Telephone: 07990 930598 Find me on facebook and instagram
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