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Enduring forms are full of quiet assurance. Overstatement is worse than understatement.” These were the words of Bernard Leach, the ceramicist who, with the help of his friend and fellow potter Shoji Hamada, fused European and Asian techniques to create a modernist aesthetic that opened a new dialogueabout pottery as an abstract form between painting and sculpture. An exhibition exploring Leach and his legacy is currently on show at the newly redeveloped Tate St Ives. That Continuous Thing: Artists & The Ceramics Studio 1920–Today examines the different roles of the ceramics studio, from a place of international exchange to one of instruction, sociability and even performance. It also looks at the definition of ceramics itself.“I think the space between the approach of a studio potter or fine artist is territory that is currently very relevant, particularly as elements of fine art and craft approaches are being appropriated by either practitioner,” says co-curator Sara Matson. “Debates over form and function go on within this, but are less interesting than more contemporary concerns of both potter and artist, as they explore what meaning clay can carry today as a medium, and its liberation as a second-class material.”The exhibition starts in the two decades after Leach came to St Ives in 1920, presenting a selection of drawings, pots and pieces from Leach and Hamada alongside work by contemporaries and students. The Cornish seaside town was known as an art colony before WW1, attracting people because of the quality of its light, cheap rents and inspiring scenery, but its reputation was on the wane. In 1919, Frances Horne and her wealthy husband David had bought a large house in the town. Frances was interested in developing creative opportunities for local people, founding the St Ives Guild of Handicrafts. At the time, Leach was living in Japan, but heard about the Guild via a friend of his father. “The funding from Frances Horne and The Guild of Handicrafts was key to his moving to St Ives in 1920,” explains Matson.“Leach became embedded in the artist community and was a member of the St Ives Society of Artists. He saw himself very much as an artist potter. Leach was close to other key patrons – the Elmhirsts at Dartington Hall, Devon. He moved to Dartington Hall in 1932 for a period, to set up a pottery and teach, as well as write A Potter’s Book, supported by these generous benefactors.”After WW2, Leach’s growing international recognition included toursof Scandinavia, Japan and the USA. Peter Voulkos, one of the artists in residence atthe Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Montana, met Leach in 1952. Two years later, Voulkos created the new LA County Art Institute and sparked the ‘clay revolution’ explored in the second part of the exhibition. “He established a new ceramics department and graduate programme that attracted young artists including John Mason, Ken Price and Paul Soldner. These artists were all encouraged to think fluidly about the material and not be confined to the wheel or the vessel.” This leads the show to its natural conclusion: the unique properties of ceramics and how artists have overcome them through experimentation, highlighting artists who have pushed the medium from their position as potters. These include Reginald Wells, Denise Wren and Gillian Lowndes, as well as Aaron Angell and Jesse Wine who are reclaiming the right to engage with clay as a sculptural material. Matson says: “The ceramics studio is invariably a place of debate, an open rather than closed environment, where ideas can be shared, passed on and evolved either in the moment and/or across time: ‘the continuous thing’ that Voulkos mentions.” NEW WAVEWith its setting overlooking the beach, Tate St Ives has always been an inspiring space for showing art – the redevelopment has built on that by improving visitor and education facilities, and enlarging the gallery space. The existing building reopened on 31 March for the summer season; the area that was previously the courtyard has become a flexible two-storey space for workshops and events. Meanwhile, work continues on the huge extension that has burrowed into the hill to create up to four levels, topped by a roof garden. The new galleries provide space to show the best from both the Tate collection and elsewhere. The extension will open in the autumn.That Continuous Thing, Tate St Ives Until 3 September 2017 tate.org.ukIMAGES: 1 COURTESY OF AARON ANGELL, ROB TUFNELL, LONDON AND STUDIO VOLTAIRE LONDON. PHOTO BY ANDY KEATE; 2 © JESSE WINE, COURTESY MARY MARY, GLASGOW21 Aaron Angell, Flower, Bread Knife, 20152 Jesse Wine, I think you ought to know, I’m going through a creative stage some people find easy to connect to, 2016CERAMICS51The Arts Society ReviewSummer 2017