Kilkenny’s tradition of pottery is a relatively new one and is intertwined with the
history of craft and design in the area. In 1962, the Irish government commissioned what is known as the Scandinavian Report to assess the need for good design in Irish products in craft and industry. The report recommended that a design centre be set up in Ireland in order to encourage and facilitate Irish design. This centre, opened in 1965, was located across the road from Kilkenny Castle in the stable yard and was called Kilkenny Design. The new development, attracted national and international craftspeople, including potters to Kilkenny. The government also brought in continental designers as teachers, many of who subsequently settled in the area. Kilkenny Design enjoyed twenty years’ of prosperity with retail outlets in Dublin and London, but as it was a government-funded initiative, it was unable to sustain itself when funding was rescinded in the mid-1980s.

By this time however, it had achieved its aim of developing awareness of Irish design. The front area of the building was leased to what is now known as the Design Centre, a private enterprise housing a restaurant and retail outlet. Some of the craftspeople that had been part of Kilkenny Design moved into the rear space creating micro-industries in their fields, with the aid of low rent from the Civic Trust. At this time the government was practising a policy of decentralisation for its agencies. Kilkenny Design, with the help of the export board, Coras Trachtala, had set up the Crafts Council of Ireland to fill the need for an agency to support non-industrial products. Happily, the Crafts Council of Ireland was relocated to Kilkenny, a keynote in the development of the Irish Craft Movement in Kilkenny.

The Crafts Council of Ireland initiated a Business Skills course for craftspeople in 1989, (a development of a similar course in Kilworth in Cork), in the crescent area behind the Design Centre. Les Reed, then the Education and Training Officer for C.C.O.I. was instrumental in promoting this course. It ran for ten years and is responsible for the development of many of Kilkenny’s thriving craftspeople today. Potters who participated in this course include Ray Power of Castle Arch Pottery and Mary O’Gorman who runs her studio, Bridge Pottery, in Bennettsbridge.

Recognising the need for trained potters to work in the newly created industry, the Crafts Council—in 1990—invited Gus Mabelson, a respected English potter, to teach a pottery skills course in Kilkenny. By renovating the semi-derelict Island Mill, close to the Grennan Mill Craft School in Thomastown, the Crafts Council provided a venue for the Pottery Skills course that is still run from there. The course attracted more potters into the area and this influx supplied the studios with skilled employees. Many of the Island Mill potters settled in the area, including Christine Schumann (head thrower for Michael Jackson) and Rosemary Durr. Two recent
graduates from the course, Karen Morgan and Klaus Xhartmann, now throw in Ray Power’s Castle Arch Pottery in one of the studio-come-retail outlets in the yard behind Kilkenny Design Centre. This is a direct example of the influence of the Crafts Council’s courses on pottery initiatives in Kilkenny. According to Gus Mabelson, if the C.C.O.I. had been relocated to a different county, then it is likely that the intense pottery activity that Kilkenny enjoys today would have been generated elsewhere. However, Michael Jackson disagrees with this view; he believes by the time Kilkenny Design folded, a substantial community of craftspeople and designers were already in place in Kilkenny.

The National Craft Gallery, now two years old, is also an important resource for ceramic activity in Kilkenny. Ceramicists, Takeshi Yasuda and Peter Ting exhibited there in March and April of this year. Yasuda is a thrower and Ting is a master slip-caster—the latter’s tableware is inspired by eccentric and decorative elements of 18th-century aspic moulds. The Gallery is significant for bringing ceramicists of international fame to Kilkenny as well as showcasing Irish ones. The Graduate Show (23 July–6 August) took place there and also exhibited work from the Pottery Skills Course and the Blacksmithing Course, both run by the C.C.O.I.

The pottery industry, paradoxical as it may seem to call it that now, and as such in its first generation in Ireland, is thriving. Homethrown is a group of Irish potters situated nationwide, four of whom are based in Kilkenny. Their objective is to raise awareness of hand throwing and one-off pieces. They include Sean Lawlor, Nicholas Mosse, Stoneware Jackson and Castle Arch Pottery. Sean Lawlor is based in Castlecomer, where he has a studio that employs three potters. His designs are influenced by Celtic and African motifs, which he impresses onto his pots at the soft clay stage. Stoneware Jackson is located in Bennettsbridge; Michael Jackson uses glazes that bring out the ‘vitality and tactile qualities’ of the soft clay. This aesthetic is in stark contrast to the unnatural but brilliant blues that Sean Lawlor employs. Also based at Bennettsbridge, Mary O’Gorman of Bridge Pottery specialises in hand-painted ware.

One of the most famous names of Irish pottery both here and internationally, Nicholas Mosse runs his business independently of the systems discussed above and at present he employs about a hundred people. He left Ireland in 1962 to study pottery in England. From there he travelled to Japan on a research grant from Coras Trachtala. In 1972, he returned to his original family home—part of an old flour mill in Bennettsbridge—which he renovated to accommodate a studio. The mill’s original use has allowed him to use hydro-electricity from the nearby river to generate the kilns for firing and glazing. Mosse employs traditional motifs of animals and flowers on his pottery using a sponging method. Spongeware was the most popular type of pottery in the 19th and early 20th century in Ireland. Used mostly by farmers, it was a simple pottery for storing food staples like tea and flour. The designs were made using cut sponges dabbed on white earthenware usually by children or unskilled labourers. Nicholas’ mother collected antique spongeware and this collection impressed Mosse as a pottery student with its childlike quality. The designs Mosse uses today are much more detailed, yet the emphasis is still on simplicity. Mosse’s employees are trained in-house, many of them without previous experience.

Mosse continues to explore the design possibilities offered by ceramics, researching clay recipes and techniques. Collaborations with artists such as James Turrell in 1993 and Tony Cragg in 2000, seen at Kilkenny’s Butler Gallery, has helped Mosse reinvent his ceramic work. In 1998, he merged his craft with cabinet-maker Bill Burke and James Turrell (Mosse and Turrell are Quakers) in an installation for Artranspennine, called Lapsed Quaker Ware, which simultaneously poked fun at and evoked the austerity of the Quaker life style. The black basalt used for the contemporary ware set was based on a recipe found in the 18th century Wedgwood archives used originally for Quaker funerary ware. Appropriately, this piece along with work by others was exhibited at a Quaker school in England.
Mosse’s research both home and abroad has enabled him to develop indigenous clay from deposits discovered in Tipperary and Cavan. The Nicolas Mosse Pottery dig and process their own clay. This clay allows firing at low temperatures, thus maintaining the survival of the rich tones of low-fired colours that would otherwise burn out at higher temperatures. Mosse is currently working on a new series of tables using a yellow, paper-fibre based clay that he has developed in-house.

Local ceramicist, Liselott Olofsson, remembers as a child discovering clay deposits on Daly’s hill (now Robertshill) in Kilkenny. She dug up the pinkish clay and made pots, which she hand-painted once they were dry. Liselott always remembers being aware of pottery activity and support in Kilkenny when she was growing up. She studied art education in NCAD but found the ceramic part of the course too restrictive. She moved on to the ceramics course where she felt there was more freedom to express her own aesthetic. There, she began a series of work influenced by her experience as a mother. The round feminine forms are reminiscent of the womb shape and play on the tradition of the container in pottery. These pots are not functional items; they are not glazed. All are unique objects that cross the so-called boundary between art and craft.

Liselott practises an alternative firing process called naked raku using an outdoor kiln. She fires her pots at 1060 degrees to make sure they are sturdy enough for the various processes they are put through. Prior to firing, she draws into the surface, breaking the glaze so that smoke penetrates to the clay during firing and makes marks. For her, mark making is a very important part of working with clay as it is such a tactile and diverse medium. At the end of the firing the glaze cracks off like an eggshell. ‘I love the element of chance and surprise when I am removing the glaze. I like to seethe results as they happen during the process’.
Liselott has her own studio in the Bridge Pottery, Bennettsbridge. In exchange for the space, she works in the Bridge shop. She used to work in the main workshop run by Mary O’Gorman. She sees Mary O’Gorman as a mentor and has learnt a lot from her. Liselott feels lucky to have been born into a readymade industry in Kilkenny. ‘It is difficult when you leave college because you are isolated from the support and contact with other ceramicists you had there. In Kilkenny, I do not feel so alone’.

However, she feels there is pressure on potters to make for the market rather than developing their personal work. Consumers prefer to buy pottery from the same range to match what they have already collected. Being a ceramicist creating unique non-functional objects rather than a production potter means it is more difficult to make a living. Unfortunately, some retail outlets add 100% commission, which does not leave an adequate margin to pay for her materials and time. Now at the beginning of her career, she would like to visit international potters before setting up her own studio, creating original pieces. Ultimately, and with the aid of Ireland’s new spending power, she believes the market can accommodate the production industry such as Mosse’s as well as her own approach, ‘ensuring one crafts person commercial success and the other an outlet for creative expression’.

Treasa O’Brien is an artist and freelance writer. She is also the administrator of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny.