During Farnham Craft Month the ceramic sculpture Grayson Perry as Claire by ceramic artist Jill Bryars will be displayed in the Rapid Response Vitrine in the Crafts Study Centre’s Tanner Gallery. The large ceramic sculpture makes use of hobby glazes, slips and oxides and includes metal ties, mixed clays, all atop a supermarket dinner plate. It reflects Bryars’ interest in Perry’s celebrity, specifically in the years leading up to him being awarded the 2003 Turner Prize, and Perry’s brazen refusal to fit within lineages of British studio pottery as expressed in his 1997 Ceramic Review article ‘Theme Park Pottery’. 

Join us for a spotlight talk with the artist, hosted by Crafts Study Centre Director Stephen Knott, to further explore Bryars’ motivation for making the work. This includes discussion of Bryars’ research at the Centre and the role of the male ego in British Studio Pottery particularly in relation to the ‘father’ of the movement, Bernard Leach.