Donation of works from KennedyTing

In autumn 2025 the Kennedy Ting arts organisation generously donated eleven ceramic works to the collections of the Crafts Study Centre (CSC).

These include (from left to right below):

Alison Britton, Crate, 2021; Annie Turner, Tide Mark Sluice, 2004; Carol McNicoll, Monumental Bowl, c.1980; Felicity Aylieff, Celadon Vessel, 2007; Ken Eastman, Large Vessel, 1998; Natasha Daintry, Dark Purple with Red Line and Mid Purple Yellow Line Tall, 2002 and Ziggurat, 2009; Peter Ting, Buddha Hands Cup and Saucer, 2004.

The group of works selected for the Crafts Study Centre by Peter Ting and Brian Kennedy followed an initial call-out by KennedyTing for expressions of interest from museums for works in their collection. This list of ceramics directly responded to a current priority within our acquisitions strategy as outlined by the Collections Development Policy: to better represent the rich history of late twentieth century, or postmodern, ceramics in Britain.  

There is a noticeable lack of representation in the CSC collections of ceramic artists who were emerging from art schools in the 1970s who took the medium into new directions, embracing hand-building, expressive, colourful surface treatment and a broad exploration of form. This was a vibrant, dynamic and intelligent period for pushing the boundaries of what clay can do. With the exception of a donation in 2020 by Pat Barnes that ensured presence in the CSC collection for Carol McNicoll, Julian Stair, Kate Malone, Jill Crowley, as well as donations from Edmund de Waal, artists of this period are not represented in the CSC’s collection.

The KennedyTing donation enriches the small selection of work by current CSC ceramic advisors Alison Britton and Felicity Aylieff with pieces that mark different moments in their career not currently represented. Carol McNicoll’s Monumental Bowl (1980) is characteristic of the artist’s play with form and arresting surface treatment and joins two scrolled-handle cups and a dish already in the collection. But significantly, the donation also adds works by artists previously not represented, including Nicola Daintry, Annie Turner, Ken Eastman, and Peter Ting. The eclecticism of this group – from Turner’s wall-mounted work that recalls the human interventions to corral the tidal River Deben in Suffolk to Eastman’s planar undulations in his slab-built vessels – conveys the breadth of work within the ambit of late twentieth and early twenty-first century studio pottery.

About KennedyTing

KennedyTing is an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of the contemporary object situated at the intersection of Art, Craft, and Design. To advance this aim, the organization will allocate up to £40,000 annually, of which £20,000 is a Curation Grant and an additional £20,000 to support donations and the gifting of objects to public institutions.

This financial commitment serves not only as funding but as a means of maintaining an ongoing discourse on the processes of creation, curation, and collection. Through this initiative, KennedyTing seeks to ensure that contemporary objects continue to be critically examined and understood within the context of an evolving cultural landscape.