Prue Cooper

Prue trained as a painter, and spent twenty years dealing in eighteenth and nineteenth century drawings before deciding to go back to making things. She set up her present studio in 1996 and is a member of the Craft Potters Association and the Art Workers Guild.

"I trained as a painter at the Byam Shaw, but I didn’t realise then that making things was an option. So before becoming a potter, I spent twenty years dealing in 18th and 19th and 20th century drawings, especially drawings by artists whose work illustrates the oddities of life, and records the workings of the world.

Staying in a Landmark is several experiences all wrapped together - friendship and the sharing of simple pleasures, a sense of common purpose, of tradition refreshed for a modern age, and the power of humane surroundings . What a marvellous opportunity to be given - to translate some of that onto a series of dishes for this celebratory exhibition.

Some dishes are inscribed with quotations, and the lettering is an integral part of the design, in the same way that the words are integral to a song. The cast of characters also comment on life; but the warm directness of slipware, the physicality of ceramic, and the simple fact that a large dish for food automatically implies sociability and daily life, are all essential parts of the whole."

Member of the Craft Potters Association, and the Art Workers Guild (Master in 2014).

Find out more about Prue Cooper