Bubier collection of ceramics

Norma E. Bubier Memorial Collection: Pottery in the Leach-Cardew Tradition 

We are fortunate to be one of the few colleges in Oxford to have such an outstanding assembly of modern studio pottery in its possession.  We were given the Collection by Dr R.H. Bradshaw in memory of his wife Dr Bubier, a former tutor at HMC, and it is named in her honour.   

Drs Bradshaw and Bubier built up the Collection over many years having stumbled across the Leach Pottery when visiting Cornwall in the 1990s.  At that time, the popularity of Leach pottery was at an all-time low and the future viability of the Pottery was in doubt.  Wanting to do something to help support the potters, Bradshaw and Bubier started to buy pottery from artists who had trained at the Leach Pottery or who were influenced by its practices and philosophy.  They also collected works by individuals who had spent time with Michael Cardew, Leach’s first pupil.  Eventually they built up an exceptional collection, half of which came here to HMC.  

The Bubier Collection contains over 180 pots representing 15 different artists.  All the potters in the Collection have a common heritage, having spent time either at the Leach Pottery in St Ives or with Michael Cardew.  

Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew 

The importance of Bernard Leach (1887-1979) in the revival of British studio pottery in the twentieth century cannot be overstated.  Born in Hong Kong, he was educated in the UK but later studied and made pottery across Asia before returning to the UK permanently in 1919.  He and his colleague and friend Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) set up a pottery in St Ives.  It was here that they set about building up a new British pottery tradition that emphasised handmade and functional pots that used traditional decorative techniques such as glazes and slipware.  The aesthetic form and the function of the pots were considered equally important and, in this way, the Leach Pottery integrated Western and Eastern techniques and attitudes about creating ceramics.  

Leach set up systems so that numerous apprentices and pupils were employed at the Pottery.  In this way the Leach tradition was passed on to generations of potters, including a number of major artists such as Michael Cardew (1903-1983).  

Cardew was Leach's first pupil and, he later claimed, the best he ever had.  Cardew was particularly influenced by the Pottery’s use of slipware.  He spent three years at St Ives before establishing his own potteries, working to revive the English slipware tradition while 'infusing it with a twentieth-century artistic sensibility' (David Whiting).  Cardew had a major impact on twentieth century pottery, not only influencing studio pottery aesthetically but also in terms of his philosophy and teaching. 

The Collection 

All the material in the Bubier Collection is influenced by the work of Leach or Cardew, or both, most notably in the artistic output of two major ceramicists of the twentieth century, Clive Bowen and Richard Batterham. 

Clive Bowen 

The Collection particularly emphasises the works of Clive Bowen (born 1943) who still works from his studio in Devon.  Bowen produces slip-decorated earthenware and is considered by many to be the finest artist working in this tradition today.  His work is represented in galleries and private collections across the world.  

Bowen originally studied painting and etching at Cardiff School of Art before moving to North Devon in 1965 to begin a four-year apprenticeship with Michael Leach (Bernard Leach’s son).  He later worked with Michael Cardew at his pottery in Wentford Bridge, learning about slipware and establishing his own artistic style.  He opened his own pottery, Shebbear Pottery, in the early 1970s and it is still operational today. 

We have over eighty Bowen works in the Collection that come in all shapes and sizes, from small domestic items to larger monumental pieces.  Regardless of size, however, all of Bowen’s work has been designed with a practical purpose in mind and is meant to be ‘used’.  Admittedly, HMC only ‘uses’ them for display and for study. 

Bowen’s work is characterised by the rich coloured glazes in use and in the free, bold and graceful use of slip.  His work really is a masterclass of different slip techniques; we have pots that display trailing (creating lines and dots), sgraffito (motifs created through scratching images in the wet slip), and combing (using tools to draw wet slip through each other).  The pots exhibit both abstract and drawn images that feel spontaneous and graceful which, combined with the beauty of the form, make the resulting pots captivating. 

Richard Batterham 

Richard Batterham (1936-2021) is another hugely celebrated and respected studio potter who we are fortunate to have well represented in the Collection. He began his affinity with clay at just thirteen years of age while at school, before continuing with an apprenticeship in the late 1950s at the Leach Pottery.  As an apprentice at St Ives, he worked directly with Bernard Leach but also met and was influenced by Shoji Hamada’s son, Atsuya Hamada (1932-1986), who used a Japanese kick wheel.  After his time in St Ives, Batterham set up his own studio, with his wife Dinah Dunn, in Durweston, Dorset. 

Batterham’s work is known for its functionality, and he took his inspiration from everyday items that he made beautiful.  He regularly employed various decorating techniques (fluting, faceting, chattering, etc.) which were complemented with glazes made of ash, iron and salt.  Batterham’s work is also concerned with scale, so the same form is recreated regularly in different sizes.  

The Guardian, in its obituary of Batterham, describes him as ‘a potter whose stoneware in the Leach tradition was both modest and majestic’.  It goes on to describe his work as offering ‘replication and profusion, seriality and singularity.  Indeed, his work is best seen as a magnificent continuum...’.  The works we have in the Collection demonstrate this rhythm and pattern and so, when displayed together, the pots take on a power and magnetism that is beguiling.  

We also have other talented artists represented in the Collection, including Ray Finch, Trevor Corser, Joanna Wason, and Jeff Oestreich, although the number of items by these potters are more modest than our Bowen and Batterham material.   

The pots we have are on display throughout the College and are regularly admired by College members and visitors alike.  Their existence in College has also enabled us to make fruitful connections with other artists and makers, including the University’s own Anagama Kilns and the material they have produced.  We will post more about these beautiful pots and the techniques used to create them in the near future.