Margaret Curtis

Margaret Curtis’s highly distinctive pots – lidded jars and caddies, bottles and vases, tea bowls, sake cups – show her ability to combine rich textured glazes with simple strong forms. Born in Seaham, County Durham, she established a studio at Middle Rigg with her husband Eddie Curtis in 1979. A decisive moment came in 1999 when she visited the home and studio of Miwa Kyusetsu XI in Hagi, Japan, and was deeply affected by his use of black clay which she began to use, alongside her porcelain, on her return home. Margaret employs great freedom of form, achieving an effective synthesis of clay, glaze and slip to create objects with a very elemental character, their surfaces reminiscent of moss or lichen-covered stone or the irons often left by the path of natural spring water. The effect is one of fluidity, of surfaces and shapes which possess powerful qualities of stilled motion.

David Whiting