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Photo by Stephen White
Exhibition

Jennifer Lee: the potter’s space

9 July – 22 September 2019

This exhibition was the first solo presentation of the renowned ceramicist, Jennifer Lee’s work in a UK public institution since 1994.

 

This event has passed. Free, come along

This exhibition included 40 works made from different periods throughout Lee’s entire career as well as new pots which were made especially for the exhibition at Kettle’s Yard.

Jennifer Lee is a major presence to have emerged from studio ceramics of the 1970s, whose practitioners dismantled notions of clay as a medium confined to functional forms and domestic environments.

Lee’s hand-built unglazed stoneware pots are characterised by their smooth surfaces and rich colours. Beginning with a pinch pot base, which is built upon by coiling lengths of clay, the roots of her process lie in the earliest forms of clay making.

Described by Edmund de Waal as ‘the embodiment of place, complex and intriguing,’ Lee’s pots focus on the interaction between materials and elements, powerfully evoking experiences of time, place and process in a way that feels at once ancient and contemporary.

The exhibition was designed by Jamie Fobert Architects and curated by Sarah Griffin. A new publication designed by Jake Tilson, including an essay by Tanya Harrod, is available from our shop and online.

‘A timeless quality’. Lee’s exhibition is one of which Ede surely would have approved.

— Frieze Magazine
Pale, speckled, emerging rim, 1997, 21.8 x 13cm. Shigaraki Red, dark, red tilted shelf, 2014, 15.2 x 11.8cm. Asymmetric amber lichen, 1986, 28.5 x 15.4cm. Photo: Jon Stokes

Listen to Jennifer Lee in conversation with Helen Ritchie (Associate Curator, Fitzwilliam Museum) and independent curator Sarah Griffin. Chaired by Andrew Nairne, Director, Kettle’s Yard. 18th July 2019.

Watch this video where #LOEWECraftPrize 2018 winner Jennifer Lee invites us into her London studio to give us a glimpse into the handmade processes that go into creating her ceramic vessels.

We are grateful to the following for their generous support:

 

The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts
Christopher Gorman-Evans
Erskine, Hall & Coe Ltd, London
Nicholas and Judith Goodison’s Charitable Settlement
Robin Vousden
Chizuko Yashiro
Amalia Inglessis
Sokyo Gallery
Barry Eaglestone
Lindy Mason