Sutton Taylor – ‘Lustre’
at Hope University Cornerstone
10 January – 18 February 2011
An exhibition by Sutton Taylor in association with Hart Gallery, London. www.hartgallery.co.uk
Now that the major building works on Hope’s Creative Campus are complete, the Capstone building has opened and the Cornerstone has been re-organised so that the ground floor foyer is now almost exclusively gallery space. They certainly need the extra space for all the display cabinets housing these lovely large, vibrant ceramic pieces.
Taylor has made lustre ceramics for most of his life, gaining a worldwide reputation; his work being represented in collections such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, Los Angeles County Museum and The Alhambra Museum in Spain. This exhibition is the first major national touring exhibition of his work.
Taylor’s lustre ware ceramics are all about the rich, glowing colours that this often risky firing process produces. The simple vessels and bowls are soaked in deep blues, red and golds, which ripple and drip across their surface, reflecting the Cornish landscape, where he lives. Taylor is self taught, having found the lustre ware technique by accident, and has continued experimenting with it ever since, even to the extent of making his own glazes to produce one-off colours.
The current show includes new work as well as older pieces dating back to the 1980s. Viewers can trace the evolution of his aesthetic from early floral patterns to more abstract vessels and bowls and the most recent sculptural forms.
