Matthew Blakely
Matthew Blakely’s work re-establishes the link between pottery and place. He makes pots entirely from rocks and clays he has collected from individual locations around the country. These place-specific pieces are made only from materials he has researched, collected and prepared himself. His glazes are blends of a variety of local rocks, so they are ceramic representations of the geology of those places. All the colours and textures come from the minerals in these rocks.
Provenance is fundamentally important to him. He knows where every ingredient comes from, and he has also collected it (with the necessary permissions) and prepared it himself. Time is an inescapable part of the process, and there are no shortcuts. Every rock must be crushed, ground and sieved before it can be used, and hundreds of glaze tests go into achieving his results.
Blakely is very aware that pottery relies on extracting naturally occurring materials and needs energy to fire the pots, and he works in ways that minimise his impact. He knows the provenance of every material he uses, and he collects them with respect for the places they come from and for the people or organisations that own the land. None of the materials are toxic; iron is the only colourant he uses.
Firing takes a significant amount of energy, which he works to minimise. He has built thermally efficient kilns designed to fire without producing much smoke. He uses local wood that would otherwise be burnt as waste, such as coppicing trimmings from farm and byway management, and branches and joints from fallen trees that are difficult to split. His firings are relatively short at 27 hours, yet he achieves rich woodfired surfaces through careful choice of the most appropriate clays, slips and glazes.
He works with a wide range of rocks and clays, using firing types and temperatures that bring out the best in each. His approach is becoming increasingly simple, taking ceramics back to its essence.
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