Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie
Encyclopedia
Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie (1895 in Berkshire
– 1985 in Wiltshire
) was a pioneer in modern English
Studio pottery
.
Her interest in pottery began when she visited Roger Fry
at his Omega Workshops
and saw examples of his work, which led to her attending the Central School of Art and Design in London to study pottery under Dora Billington
.
In 1924 she was taken on by Bernard Leach
at his pottery in St. Ives
. She remained at the Leach Pottery
for a year and learnt alongside Michael Cardew
, Shoji Hamada
and Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi
In 1925 she started her first pottery with a wood-fired kiln in the grounds of her family estate at Coleshill in Berkshire
(now Oxfordshire
), where she was joined by Norah Braden. They used ash glazes, prepared from wood growing on the estate. In 1946 she moved to her second pottery at Kilmington Manor in Wiltshire
where she worked until her death in 1985. At Kilmington she used first an oil fired kiln, and then an electric one.
Katherine described herself as "a simple potter. I like a pot to be a pot, a vessel with a hole in it, made for a purpose".
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
– 1985 in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
) was a pioneer in modern English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Studio pottery
Studio pottery
Studio pottery is made by modern artists working alone or in small groups, producing unique items of pottery in small quantities, typically with all stages of manufacture carried out by one individual. Much studio pottery is tableware or cookware but an increasing number of studio potters produce...
.
Her interest in pottery began when she visited Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
at his Omega Workshops
Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops was a design enterprise founded by members of the Bloomsbury Group and established in 1913. It was located at 33 Fitzroy Square in London, and was founded with the intention of providing graphic expression to the essence of the Bloomsbury ethos...
and saw examples of his work, which led to her attending the Central School of Art and Design in London to study pottery under Dora Billington
Dora Billington
Dora Billington was an English teacher of pottery and a studio potter. She was born into a family of potters in Stoke-on-Trent and studied at Hanley School of Art. She worked as a decorator for Bernard Moore, 1912-1915, and then took a diploma in ceramics at the Royal College of Art 1915-1916...
.
In 1924 she was taken on by Bernard Leach
Bernard Leach
Bernard Howell Leach, CBE, CH , was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery"-Biography:...
at his pottery in St. Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
. She remained at the Leach Pottery
Leach Pottery
The Leach Pottery was founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada in St Ives, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom.The buildings have grown from an old cow / tin-ore shed in the 19th century to a pottery in the 1920s when Hamada and Leach first attempted to construct a climbing kiln, this was the...
for a year and learnt alongside Michael Cardew
Michael Cardew
Michael Cardew, OBE, was an English studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years.Cardew was the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra Kitchin, the eldest daughter of G.W.Kitchin, the first Chancellor of Durham University...
, Shoji Hamada
Shoji Hamada
was a Japanese potter. He was a significant influence on studio pottery of the twentieth century, and a major figure of the mingei folk-art movement, establishing the town of Mashiko as a world-renowned pottery centre.- Biography :...
and Tsuronosuke Matsubayashi
In 1925 she started her first pottery with a wood-fired kiln in the grounds of her family estate at Coleshill in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
(now Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
), where she was joined by Norah Braden. They used ash glazes, prepared from wood growing on the estate. In 1946 she moved to her second pottery at Kilmington Manor in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
where she worked until her death in 1985. At Kilmington she used first an oil fired kiln, and then an electric one.
Katherine described herself as "a simple potter. I like a pot to be a pot, a vessel with a hole in it, made for a purpose".