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Alison Britton 'Containing'

30 March to 12 May 2007

Alison Britton is internationally recognised as one of the UK‘s leading ceramic artists. Although respectful of ceramic tradition her pots are daringly inventive in form and function primarily as containers of cultural meaning. Works by Britton have variously been described as ‘ambiguous’, their painted surfaces as ‘spontaneous’ and ‘exuberant’, but as historian of the applied arts Linda Sandino remarks: ‘Her approach ... is continually thoughtful, reflective and informed, there is no silliness, no superficiality.’

Britton has long been interested in the dual aspects of ideas and experiences. Early examples of this are to be found in her pairing of jugs with bowls and the fusion of such forms evident in her ‘double pots’ (dating from the 1980s). This latter family of forms could be perceived as an accommodation of difference, but she has also sought to explore difference through representations of conflict and confrontation. To this end she has identified a language of attributes that she uses in her work to signify separate states of being including notions of male and female, nature and culture, fact and fiction, form and content.

Most recently she has been preoccupied with how fiction might influence form and she has produced a collection of pots where visual/cultural confrontation is an underlying theme. Some important sources of inspiration have been research visits to Istanbul and the novels of Orhan Pamuk which raise issues of competing cultural histories and convey simultaneous yet discrete perspectives on how the world might be understood.

Biographical notes

Born 1948, Alison Britton studied at the Central School of Art & Design (1967 - 70) and the Royal College of Art, London (1970 - 73). In addition to her artistic practice she is influential as a writer, lecturer and curator across the field of the applied arts. Her work is represented in major public collections worldwide including: Australian National Gallery, Canberra; The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam; The British Council Collection and Victoria & Albert Museum, London. She was awarded an OBE in 1990.



For more information, transparencies, or to arrange an interview with the artist please contact

Juliana Barrett

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