David roberts ceramics biography sample

Roberts has exhibited and presented workshops throughout the UK, Europe and USA introducing my processes and work to people worldwide. For the best part of 50 years, he has been tinkering and improving it, garnering him a reputation as a master of painting with smoke, which also happens to be the title of his successful book, now in its second edition. 

“I am trying to transform a long ceramic tradition into a vibrant and contemporary art form relevant to the 21st century,” Roberts explains in his straight-talking Yorkshire accent.

Once that slip is dry, a simple raku glaze is added that’s then allowed to dry. “It took several years to understand exactly what I was doing. Each pot is fired individually. The first is a bisque firing, which ranges between 1868–1922°F (1020–1050°C). His ceramics are represented in internationally important public and private collections.

“Both are mixed with differing proportions of water, depending on the required final result. This is cleaned off with a microfiber cloth and a drop of water.” Subsequently a wonderful black-and-white graphic pattern is revealed. Biscuit firing is between 1000 & 1100 degrees Celsius. The resulting vessels are strongly evocative of David’s increasing engagement with the natural world and the contours and stratification of stone and landscape.

David Roberts lives and works in the Yorkshire Pennine mill town of Holmfirth.

David Roberts’ C.V.

(resume) – View his works

PERSONAL INFORMATION
1947 – Born in Sheffield.
1966-70 – David Roberts introduced to ceramics during education degree studies at Bretton Hall College.
1970-81 – Full time art teaching in secondary schools.

Dust and an unpleasant surface remains. This distinguished, British-born potter was instrumental in introducing contemporary, unglazed, and large-scale raku in the UK and he established this modern interpretation of a 16th-century Japanese process in Britain as a viable and serious contemporary ceramic discipline. By the early 1980s, he applied for a part-time position as ceramics teacher at Batley School of Art and was offered the job, where he remained until 1999, when he became a full-time potter.

The piece is red hot and it sets the material (paper, straw, or different types of sawdust) off. “I treat the bases and the insides with the same care as the vessels’ exteriors, enjoying the frisson from paying attention to these things.”

The raku-firing process is one of Roberts’ great enjoyments in life, and yet it takes just 30 minutes at low temperature to complete a firing.

It’s very contemplative, and I like the sense of volume. He explains, “Originally, I was going to train in two-dimensional painting and printmaking, which I did for a year.