Artists Comment

This article followed a Residency with metalsmith Junko Mori, in the summer of 2007,and forms a part of the exhibition catalogue of their joint exhibition at The Harley Gallery in Autumn 2007.

A Natural Obsession Kate Malone
Welbeck was like another country, I almost thought I would have to show my passport to enter. Time felt different - slower and very special. I was most interested to see the early natural history books I had been told about. They were more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. The composition, focus and grace
of each page were a revelation and it was a great privilege to see the illustrations in the original. The artists who painted the illustrations did so with the same wonder at nature as Junko and I feel when we look at natural specimens.

When I arrived back in my studio after the residency I was, for the first time in a long time, possibly ever, slowed to a stop by the sheer beauty and dedication of the books we had studied. Each book represented a lifetime of work whereas I am only able to spend a few weeks on a piece, a month or two if I am lucky. Times have changed. We are unable to work in such a detailed way, and if I could, would I want
to? Junko and I both take Nature as our inspiration and working and studying with her confirmed this. But the essence of our work is quite different. I aim to capture a sense of energy and growth, pieces that show the ripeness of whole forms and I think of a form in terms of skin or volume. Junko looks at constituent parts to create forms from a nucleus to create a sort of seed or explosion of nature. Her attention to detail made an immediate impression and her level of concentration and clear focus inspired me.

The residency and working alongside Junko have given me a recharged incentive to observe and concentrate with invigorated clarity. It made me want to visit Japan.

Kate Malone August 2007
Text courtesy of The Harley Gallery

Other articles of interest can be seen by following the links below:
Kate Malone - Instinct and Anarchy
Kate Malone - A Day In The Life Of
Crystalline Notes 
Kate Malones' Video diary

Background History

Born
London, England 1959
School education Henbury comprehensive, Bristol.

Education
Arts Foundation, Bristol Polytechnic.
1979-82 Bristol Polytechnic, BA (Hons) Ceramics
1983-86 The Royal College of Art, London, MA

Kate works in three areas of ceramics, firstly 'one-off' studio pieces, secondly with architects, designers and public art agencies, and thirdly designing for industry. Her work is based on the natural forms of the sea and land as she is absorbed with the wonders of nature as well as with the alchemy of ceramic glaze technology. Her two most popular glazes are the 'pebbled' arthenware in which glazes are fired over each other splitting in the process, and her crystalline stoneware which produces semi-random crystal growth on the surface.

Kate is on the panel of Assessors for the Arts Council of England Lottery Fund. She was Craft Consultant
for Dongar 1995 in India, a Festival of Craft, and has lectured and run workshops
in India, Thailand, USA, Estonia and Great Britain

Solo exhibitions

1988 - Fruits de Mer – The Orangery, Holland Park, London
1989 - Deep Sea – House and garden, Nassau, Bahamas

1990 – Fruits of the Sea II - The Orangery, Holland Park, London
1990 – Solo Exhibition – Aberystwyth Arts centre, Aberystwyth, Wales
1992 – Solo exhibition, Osiris Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
1993 – Fruits of the Earth - The Orangery, Holland Park, London
1994 - Fruits of the Earth and the Sea: Ceramics by Kate Malone – Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester

1995 – Kate Malone, New Ceramics – The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
1995 - Kate Malone Ceramics – Vincent Gallery, Exeter, Devon
1997 – Fruits of the Imagination – Dover Street Gallery, London
1998 – The Allotment – Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, followed by National tour to eleven venues from 1998 -2000

2002 – Nuts and Berries, Dover Street Gallery, London
2002 - 03 At Home With Kate Malone and Enmund De Waal, the Geffrye Museum, London.
2005 - Solo show at Blackwell House, the Lake Districk. UK.
2007 - A Natural Obsession. (duo show with Junko Mori) Welbeck Abbey. Worksop, Nr Nottingham

Selected Group Exhibitions and Fairs

1987 – Royal College of Art Retrospective – Kyoto, Japan
1988 – Munich Art Fair, Munich Germany
1988 – Sotheby’s Decorative Arts Exhibition – Sotheby’s London
1988 – Out of Clay – Works in Clay by Artists, Potters and Sculptors – Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester
1989 – British Craft – Ceramic Studio, Vienna, Austria
1989 – British Craft – Toronto, Canada

1992 - The Furnished Landscape, Crafts Council, London
1992 – Balls Pond Studio Summer Exhibition – The Economist Building, London
1993 – Crystalline Ceramics: experiments with Glazes by 20th Century Potters – Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester
1993 – The High Table – Craftspace Touring Exhibition, UK
1994 – A New Century in design – Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, and Japanese Tour
1994 – International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London
1995 – Out of this World – Crafts Council, London
1995 – British Contemporary Ceramics and Glass – New York, USA
1995 - International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London

1996 – SOFA Chicago, Adrian Sassoon, Chicago, USA
1996 - Living at Belsay – Belsay Hall, Northern Arts/English Heritage, Northumberland
1997 – ART 97 – Adrian Sassoon, Business Design Centre, London
1997 – Miami Arts Fair, Adrian Sassoon, Miami USA
1997 - International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London
197 – Animal, Vegetable, Mineral – Drumcroon Art Education centre, Wigan
1997 – Time for Tea – The British Council, International Touring Exhibition
1998 - ART 98 – Adrian Sassoon, Business Design Centre, London
1998 – Spirit of the Times – The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham
1998 - International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London
1998 – Fine Arts and Antiques Fair, Adrian Sassoon, Olympia, London
1998 – Working from the Collection – Ipswich Museum, Ipswich, Suffolk
1999 - ART 99 – Adrian Sassoon, Business Design Centre, London
1999 – International 20th Century Arts Fair – Adrian Sassoon, New York
1999 - International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London
1999 - Fine Arts and Antiques Fair, Adrian Sassoon, Olympia, London
1999 – Westerwald Preis – Germany

2000 – International 20th Century Arts Fair – Adrian Sassoon, New York
2000 – European Ceramic Masters – Steninge Slott Palace, Sweden
2000 - International Ceramics Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Park Lane Hotel, London
2000 - ART 2000 – Adrian Sassoon, Business Design Centre, London
2000 – Dish of the Day; Contemporary British Ceramics and Glass – The British Council, International Touring Exhibition
2001 – Home Sweet Home: Contemporary British Design for the Home – The British Council, International Touring Exhibition
2001 – British Ceramics – Galerie Norby, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001 – International Art and Design Fair, Adrian Sassoon, New York
2001 – British Ceramics – Mark Grainer, Philadelphia, USA
2002 – ART 2002, Adrian Sassoon, London
2002 – Ceramic Rooms: At Home with Kate Malone and Edmund de Waal – Geffrye Museum, London
2002 – International Art Fair – Adrian Sassoon, Grosvenor House, London
2002 – Art and Design Fair – 7th Regiment Armoury, New York City, Adrian Sassoon
2002-3 – The Golden Age of Ceramics – Fifty Years of Pivotal Ceramicists, Red Gallery, Southsea, Portsmouth

Large Scale Works and Public Commissions

1987 - Large Wall Panel – Hydrotherapy Pools, Southampton General hospital
1989 – Four large Wall Panels – Quintessence Restaurant, London (Now closed)

1990 - Serving platters, dishes, water jugs, fish tank accessories – Otaru Maritimo Hotel, Japan (now closed) Architect Nigel Coates
1990 – Wall panels and Tabletops – La Gaulette Seafood Restaurant, London (now closed)
1991 – Life Pours Forth, courtyard fountain – Homerton Hospital, Hackney, London
1991- Rise and Shine Magic Fish water sculptures – Lea Valley Park, Hackney Marshes, London
1992 – The Leaf of Life, wall sculpture, clock and wall lights – HIV and Drug Dependency Unit, West Middlesex University Hospital, Twickenham, Middlesex
1993 - Bath for Birds – Chapel Allerton Hospital Leeds
1994 – Bronze Drinking Fountain – Castle Park, Bristol
1994 – Queen Pineapple - Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester

1995 – Bronze Herb Garden Fountain – Geffrye Museum, London
1996 - Swim Fishes, Swim, courtyard fountain – Children’s Oncology Ward, Royal Devon and Exeter General Hospital, Exeter
1997 – Four Large Pots for two Caribbean Cruise Liners – commissioned by London Contemporary Arts
1998 – Time For Tea, large clock – Bentalls Shopping Centre, Kingston–upon-Thames, Surrey
1999 – Pineapple atop the Binks Building, Northern Quarter, Manchester

2000 – Bronze Millennium Fountain – Greenwich Park, Greenwich, london
2001 – Undersea garden, children’s seats and courtyard ornaments – Children’s Oncology Ward, Royal Devon and Exeter General Hospital, Exeter
2001 – Mother and Daughter Pots of Symbols – The Old Bailey Consortium, London
2003-4 A large installation for a new children’s library, Brighton.

Selected Articles, Reviews and Catalogues

Sarah Charles, ‘Deeply Alluring’ The Observer, 1 February 1987
Tanya Harrod, ‘Kate Malone – Potter of the New Spirit’, Ceramic Review, July/August 1987
Pamela Johnson, ‘Sub Aquatic Ceramics’, Crafts, September/October 1988
Abigail Frost, ‘Fruits de Mer’, Exhibition Review, Arts Reviews, September 1989
Emmanuel Cooper, ‘Kate Malone’, Ceramic Series, no. 38, Aberystwyth Art Centre, December 1989

Kate Malone, ‘Fruits of the Earth’, Ceramic Review, September/October 1993
Nicole Swengley, ‘Castle Park’, Crafts, November/December 1993
Lesley Jackson, ed., Fruits of the Earth and Sea – Ceramics by Kate Malone, Manchester City Art Galleries, Manchester 1994
Pamela Johnson, ‘Fruits of the Earth’ Exhibition Review, Crafts, January/February 1994
Paul Vincent, ‘Views on Recent Shows’, Studiopottery, October/November 1994

Alison Goddard, ‘Crystal Glaze’, New Scientist, July 1995
Will Levi Marshal, Exhibition Review, Ceramic Review, July/August 1995
‘Crystalline Alchemy’ Ceramic Review, March/April 1997
Exhibition Review, Crafts, June/July 1997
Exhibition Review, Crafts, October/November 1997
MAC, The Allotment – New Ceramics by Kate Malone, Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, 1998
Lesley Jackson, ‘Sharp Urban Potters’, The Independent, 13 November 1998
Lesley Jackson, ‘This and That’ The Guardian, (Space Supplement), 2 November 1998
Lesley Jackson, ‘The Allotment’ Exhibition Review, Crafts, January/February 1999
‘The Allotment’ Exhibition Review, Ceramic Review, February/March 1999
Anatol Orient, ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’, Ceramic Review, November/December 1999

Red Gallery, Southsea, ‘The Golden Age of Ceramicists’- 50 Years of Pivotal Ceramicists, catalogue, May 2002
Geffrye Museum, exhibition catalogue, ‘Ceramic Rooms’ September 2002

Selected Bibliography

Garth Clark, The Potters Art – A Complete History of Pottery in Britain, Phaidon, London 1995
Jo Connell, The Potters Guide to Ceramic Surfaces, Krause Books, Iola, Wisconsin, Canada 2002
Edmund de Waal, Ceramic Design Sourcebook, New Holland, London 1999
Neil French, The Potters Directory of Shape and Form, A&C Black, London 1998
Tanya Harrod, The Crafts in Britain in the 20th Century, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000
Jane Heath, The Furnished Landscape – Applied Art in Public Places, Bellow Publishing, London 1992
Peter Ilsley, Macro-Crystalline Glazes – The Challenge of Crystals, Crowood Press, Marlborough 1999
Jo Lauria, Colour and Fire – Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1959-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2000
Martina Margetts, International Crafts, Thames and Hudson, 1991
Stephen Murfitt, The Glaze Book, Krause Books, Iola, Wisconsin 2002
Charlotte Speight and John Toki, Hands in Clay, Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, California, 1999
Josie Warshaw, The Complete Practical Potter, Lorenz Books, London, 1999

Public Collections

The Arts Council, London
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol City Museum
British Council Touring Collections
Cleveland Arts Centre, Middlesborough
The Crafts Council, London
The Geffrye Museum, London
The International Museum of Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Leeds City Art Gallery
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California
Manchester City Art Gallery
The Mint Museum of Ceramic Art, Charlotte, North Carolina
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Montreal
The Musée Nationale de Céramique, Sèvres
Museum of Ulster, Belfast
Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk
Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland
Stoke on Trent Museum
The J. B. Speed Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
York City Art Gallery
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London